Transforming a Loner
by Believe4Ever
Summary: *AU where they're in high school* Tooth, Sandy, Aster, and North all get an assignment in which they must befriend a new freshman, get them to participate more in school, and get used to being in high school. They soon meet Jack Frost, a boy who is unnaturally withdrawn. Will they be able to coax some of his past out of him, and transform him from a loner into someone outgoing?
1. Chapter 1

**I had seen a lot of Alternate Universe stories which had the guardians in high school, and I decided I'd try my hand at writing one. Please review and tell me how you think of the beginning.**

* * *

"Another day," Aster Bunnymund growled in his Australian dialect, kicking his feet up onto his desk. He was wearing his usual attire: scuffed up jeans, a collared plaid shirt with a bandana around the neck and shined boots.

"Don't complain," Toothiana Middleton chided, wagging her finger. "School can be really fun!" She was dressed in her another unique outfit: a short sequined dress whose colors melted from blue to green to a slight green-yellow. Her leggings were bright neon green and her feet were covered by cute violet stiletto heels. Giant looped earrings hung from her ears and her makeup was sparkled with cat-eye eyeliner.

"That's coming from mega-popular-dress-like-a-freak-every-day-cheerleader-chick," Aster grumbled.

"Don't make fun of my clothes!" she spat, crossing her arms.

"Hey, calm down," Christopher St. North sighed with his usual Russian accent. His long blonde hair fell past his shoulders and his bright blue eyes twinkled. He was wearing his football jersey with a thick fur coat over it.

Andy Sanderson nodded in agreement. He couldn't talk, due to an illness that had inflicted him when he was a child. But he always carried a pocket notebook and a pen with him in order to write down his thoughts. He wore clothes that shimmered with a golden quality. When he had first come to the school people had made fun of his clothes, but after a while it went away, since he wore the same color every day.

"Take a page from Sandy's book," North said, nodding over to the mute boy. "Shut up!"

They all gave a tiny laugh.

"Attention, class!" the teacher called. They all looked up front, along with the rest of their peers. "For your next project, you will be put into groups of four." The group glanced at each other and smiled. They'd been working together since freshman year, and now in their senior year they were inseparable.

"Your assignment," the teacher continued, "is that you must befriend someone from the new freshman year class. Preferably someone who seems to be a loner, someone new, someone who isn't entirely comfortable with their new high school experience."

The group remembered that assignment well. Each of them had been 'befriended' by a senior group when they were new to the school. That was actually how they'd met: they'd been escaping from their senior 'friends' and ran into each other at the library.

"If we do that," Tooth whispered, "we're going to make sure we don't scare our freshman."

"That's for certain," Aster agreed.

"Ahem." The teacher gave the group a small glare before continuing. "You must befriend the freshman as well as you can. Try to spend time with him or her. Try to get them out of their comfort zone and into the exciting experiences of high school! I will pass out the rubric and the rest of the criteria for you to go over with your group."

When the teacher had finished, the four turned their desks so they could discuss together.

"So we have to find a freshman," Aster stated.

"According to the rubric," Tooth chirped, looking at the newly passed out paper, "if we find someone who's more of a loner and get him to participate more in classes or other social situations, granted they have to be positive situations, then we could get a higher score. Our teacher will be talking to the freshman teachers to find out if the student is getting less sheltered."

"We have to tell the teacher who our newly found freshman is," North added as he peered over Tooth's shoulder. "I suppose we have to go and try to find a freshman that could use our help!"

"Let's keep on the lookout for a wallflower, then." Aster grinned. The others nodded in agreement.

()()()

Jack Frost walked the halls alone.

The young boy had always kept to himself. He'd never talked to anyone unless they deliberately asked him a question. Even then he'd just give short answers. One, two words maximum. He'd learned that he needed to stay out of people's way. After all, if he didn't, they'd just bully him.

Jack has always been considered a freak in society's standards. He died his hair bright white, something that certainly wasn't _normal _for a boy of fourteen years of age. He constantly wore his blue sweatshirt. He had the basic same kind of pants, which were light brown skinny jeans. Then he'd wrap ice skate laces around the base of them. He'd never explain why. He didn't want to explain why. Then there were his shoes.

He always hated shoes. He hated having his feet feel confined, or having them overheat. That's why he despised Gym. Everyday he'd have to cram his feet into some tennis shoes and by the time he pulled them out at the end of the class they'd gotten very hot and very sweaty. Usually he'd come to school in flip flops, or some moccasins. Sometimes he'd just come to school barefoot. After all, no one noticed him.

He'd blend. He always seemed to blend into his surroundings. He would sit at the back of the class and the teachers would forget about him. People would nearly smash into him in the halls because they wouldn't notice him. It didn't bother Jack, really. It was just as well that he was a wallflower, someone who nobody ever noticed. This way he got through school easily. No bullies, no friends, no conflicts or drama. Just getting through the day.

So here he was, walking to Theatre class. Another class where he just stayed in the back of the class and would keep his mouth shut. He had been forced to take Theatre, even though he didn't like to associate with people. It wasn't that he was shy. He just didn't like making a big show of himself. His class was full of kids from all grades. A handful of freshman, a bunch of seniors, a few juniors and just a couple sophomores.

Jack walked into the class, instantly hit with an enormous amount of sound. He had to force himself to not clamp his hands over his ears. Theatre kids. Always so loud. Keeping his eyes focused on the ground, he scurried to the back of the class, parking himself in a seat in the back corner. There weren't any desks in Theatre since they mostly just did acting games and tried to 'get out of there shell', as the teacher put it. Nobody ever noticed that he didn't participate.

"We won't find a loner in here," Tooth sighed to the other three as they chatted at the front of the Theatre classroom. "I mean, it's _Theatre. _It's full of spontaneous dramatic people."

"You're right," Aster grumbled, adjusting his bandana. "But we found no other lone freshman in any of the other classes or in the halls."

"How are we supposed to get a good grade if there aren't any lone freshmen?" North mumbled.

Sandy was staring at all the kids in the class with his head propped up by his arm. He wasn't really paying attention to the others or what they were discussing. His gaze wandered from group to group. Everyone was hanging out with three or more people, chattering loudly or laughing their heads off at some joke. There wasn't a single person who was—

He perked up when he spotted a boy sitting in the back corner, staring out the window. A wide grin broke out onto his face and he pulled on North's coat sleeve.

"What is it, Sandy?" North asked, looking at his tiny friend. Sandy pointed eagerly at the boy in the back and the others turned their attention to where he was pointing. "Good eye, Sandy, good eye!"

"Who would've thought that a wallflower would be in Theatre?" Aster said as he stood up. "Why don't we go talk to him?"

Tooth jumped to her feet and nodded vigorously. "If we can befriend him before class is over, then we'll have our freshman for the assignment!"

Grinning, they hurried to the back of the classroom.

* * *

**Please review and let me know what you think about the first chapter of my high school guardians story!**


	2. Chapter 2

Jack longed to leave the classroom. To leave the world. To jump out that window and soar through the air, flying far, far away from this place. Far away from everyone and everything. To be alone, but have it be a solemn choice . . .

"Hello!"

The freshman was brought out of his thoughts forcefully by an exceptionally cheerful, bubbly voice. He looked away from the window and blinked with his surprise evident across his facial features. He found, to his utter shock, four seniors standing before him. One mega happy cheerleader dressed in very strange clothes, a very large muscular jock, a scowling bad boy, and a small cheerful boy dressed in golden clothes.

They were talking to him?

"Eh, mate," the bad boy growled. "You're not mute like Sandy, are ya?"

Jack blinked again. "Mute . . .?"

"You can talk!" the cheerleader chirped with a wide smile. The small one pumped his fists in triumph.

"Uh, yeah . . ." Jack was starting to feel uncomfortable. What in the world did these seniors want with _him?_

_Oh God, _he thought, filling with dread. _They don't want to bully me, do they?_

It definitely was a neurotic thought, but after being bullied for the past several years at school by older kids, it was a reasonable cautionary thought.

"So what's your name, then?" asked the jock, his Russian accent right up front.

"North, you don't just ask that!" the cheerleader scolded. "We have to give him our names first." She looked back at him with her huge grin. "I'm Toothiana Middleton, but you can just call me Tooth!" A giggle escaped her lips and she covered her mouth, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

"Always giggling about your name," the bad boy grumbled. "Anyway I'm Aster Bunnymund."

"I am Nicholas St. North!" the jock announced with a grand voice. "But you can call me North."

The tiny boy put his notebook on Jack's desk that read _I'm Andy Sanderson, but everyone calls me Sandy._

"Mute . . ." Jack muttered, glancing from Sandy to the notebook.

"That's right, he's mute," Aster sighed. "Now will you tell us your name?"

Jack gulped and tried his best to not let his face turn red. He'd always get easily embarrassed with new people. He was naturally shy. He also learned to not just throw his name around. Names held a lot of power, after all.

"Come on, out with it!" Aster growled.

Tooth glared at him. "You can't just force him to do something!"

"What kind of person can't even say their own name?"

"Maybe you're putting him off!"

North sighed and tried to get them to be quiet. All this was just making Jack more nervous. Sandy sensed his anxiety and quickly wrote down on his notebook. He gave it to Jack. _They're just kind of pushy. You don't have to tell us your name if you don't want to. We just thought you were kind of lonely._

Jack looked up at the small boy, who was giving a tiny comforting smile. Lonely? They thought he was _lonely?_

"Who do you think you are?" he growled. The others stopped fighting immediately and looked at him.

"What was that mate?"

Jack gave the Australian a venomous glare. "I'm not your _mate_, you kangaroo!"

Aster's mouth dropped open. Did he seriously just call him a kangaroo?

"What makes you guys think that you can just come over here and talk to me as if you honestly want to be friends with me? What's the angle with you four? Is this some kind of assignment? Because I've been in your class for weeks now and you all haven't even _acknowledged _the fact that I've been sitting in this same spot every single day. All of a sudden I'm lonely? What was I before? Just antisocial? No, you all probably just didn't notice that I existed."

The four stared with startled surprise at his outburst. "You want to know my name?" he spat. "My name is _Jack Frost,_ not that you honestly care." He stood up abruptly and shoved his way through their barrier. He stalked up to the front of the classroom and grabbed the bathroom past, walking out the door.

"What in the world . . .?" North mumbled.

"That's certainly a temper on that one," Aster agreed.

"We should help him," Tooth murmured. "After all, he's a loner, and now I feel responsible for making him feel so uncomfortable."

"If we got him to participate, it would certainly make for a good grade on our part."

"It would be best for all of us," North added.

Sandy's face turned red with anger. He scribbled down in his notebook and shoved it into their hands.

_What is wrong with all of you? Jack just stormed out of the room because we insulted him and you all are only thinking about your grade!_

The other three glanced at each other, grimaces entering their faces.

"You're right, Sandy," North finally said, defeated. "We probably sound very selfish. We need to find him and apologize for how rude we were."

Sandy nodded, crossing his arms.

Tooth went to the teacher and quickly made up an excuse to get them all out of class for a bit. As they left with their hall passes, Aster asked her what she said.

"Just that Mr. Parker needed us for something. She didn't really ask questions. You know her." Tooth gave a shrug.

For a little bit, they wandered the halls and checked the bathrooms, but they didn't find any sight of him.

"Now where is he?" North mumbled as they continued their search.

()()()

Jack stormed out of the classroom, gripping the wooden hall pass so hard that he thought he would get splinters. The nerve of them! How dare they just come up to them as if they were so high and mighty, like he needed their help! He'd learned how to get along in high school all alone without anyone noticing him. He didn't need some know-it-all seniors coming over to see if he was 'lonely'.

"What idiots," he muttered, turning around a corner. He smacked into someone so hard that he fell back, onto the floor. "What the—"

"Frost!"

Jack froze in fear when he saw Weston "Pitch" Blackwood standing over him. Pitch was a senior who had been held back a year. He was the best pitcher in the school, hence the nickname. He was also the biggest bully who had picked on Jack for the first few weeks of school.

"H-Hey Pitch . . ." Jack squeaked weakly, staring up at the large boy dressed in all black.

"I warned you to not get in my way again," the bully sneered, grabbing Jack's arm forcefully. "It's about time I punished you again."

* * *

**Please review with your opinion on the characters and how you felt while reading, thank you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A new poll is posted on my profile concerning this story. It's about any pairings you'd like me to include in the story. You can choose as many as you'd like but I will only be using the pairings that have the most votes. Even if the most votes is for 'no love interest for _'.**

**Please read and review.**

* * *

"You know, I've been wondering what I'd do if you crossed my path again," Pitch mused as he dragged Jack down the halls. The freshman stared up fearfully at the bully, trying his best to hide the shivering in his knees. "And I've decided."

"W-What are y-you gonna d-do?"

"Ah, fear . . ." Pitch's lips curled into a menacing smirk. "I love the sound of fear. It makes me feel so _alive._"

"What a-are you gonna d-do?" Jack asked again, tying to swallow his anxiety.

"Well. I've decided I'll work up with my punishments."

"Work up?"

"Yes. So right now . . ." Pitch suddenly swung Jack around and the young boy whacked against a wall. Before he could crumple to the ground, the bully dug his hands into Jack's shoulders, keeping him upright. "I'll start with a small punishment. Then I'll slowly work up, the punishments getting worse and worse. Eventually I'll just be able to _taste _your fear. How wonderful that will be . . ."

"W-Weston, please . . ."

Pitch's hand smacked across Jack's cheek, leaving a bright red burn mark on his pale skin. "You won't dare use my first name," the bully hissed, leaning in so close that his hot breath melted across Jack's face. It was putrid and suffocating. "If anything, you will refer to me as Blackwood."

"B-But . . ."

"Or Pitch, of you desire."

"Pitch, please, d-don't hurt me . . . You'll just get into t-trouble . . ."

"I only get into trouble if I get caught. I'll only get caught if you tell on me. And if you tell on me, if I get punished, I'll do so, so much worse to you." An evil grin appeared on his face. "You ready for the punishment?"

()()()

"Oh, where is he?" Tooth murmured worriedly as she glanced around the halls.

"He couldn't have left campus," Aster observed. "He woulda been caught and sent back."

"Do you think he was caught and was sent to the Principal's Office?"

"No, the teacher would've been informed. We woulda seen him by now."

North hummed to himself in thought as he glanced around the halls. A certain blue sweatshirt caught his attention down a hall. "Jack?"

The others' looked over to where North was looking and spotted the boy. "Jack!" they cried, rushing over to him. The freshman turned away from them, his hood pulled up and hands stuffed into his pockets.

"We're sorry, mate," Aster sighed, not liking to apologize. "We di'n't mean to offend ya, we just wanted t' know ya betta."

Jack mumbled something they couldn't hear and continued back to the classroom.

"What?" Tooth asked, staying close to him.

"I said it _doesn't matter _now will you leave me alone?"

His raspy voice startled them and they glanced at each other in worry.

"Are you feeling all right, Jack?" North asked with concern.

"I'm _fine. _Just catching a cold . . ."

Before they could ask any more questions his pace quickened and he entered the Theatre classroom. The class was in the middle of playing 'Never Have I Ever', a game where the chairs are made into a circle. Everyone but one person has a chair. That one person stands in the middle and says the sentence "Never have I ever . . ." and finishes with something they've never done. The people who have done what the person has never done then stands up and has to switch seats. It always made for a hectic game and Jack never stood or changed seats. He'd just stay seated and no one would ever notice.

No one ever noticed.

He inserted his seat into the circle and sat down, keeping his feet tucked securely under his seat. He kept his head down so his face couldn't be seen. He never took his hood down.

"What was that all about?" Tooth whispered as they put their own chairs into the circle as well.

"He seemed a lot different," North agreed.

"And his voice," Aster observed, "That wasn't something that he could suddenly obtain from a cold."

Sandy wrote quickly down in his notebook and showed it to them. _He won't show his face, either. What's going on?_

They stared at the boy sadly, wondering what was going through his head.

()()()

_Pitch sure packs a punch, _Jack thought bitterly as he sat in the circle. The young boy had gotten hit right in the eye and he knew that by tomorrow he would have a very sickening black eye. His hands were bruised and bloody as well, since Pitch had ran them along the rough wall. Jack had managed to clean them off in the bathroom when Pitch was done, but they were still red and bleeding a little.

There was also the fact that Pitch had karate chopped his throat. He could barely talk and his throat felt like it was swelling up. Breathing was hard, too. But he knew that the feeling would go away. Pitch had certainly done it enough in the first couple weeks of school for him to understand that.

_Pitch promised to punish me again tomorrow. I wonder what could be worse than this?_

* * *

**Thank you for reading and thank you to anyone who has or will participate in the poll on my profile. Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you to those of you who have participated in the poll and future thanks to those of you who will be voting. Please read and review.**

* * *

A helpless cry escaped from Jack as Pitch shoved his face against the rough wall. The bully was holding his arm behind his back so far that the freshman feared that it would snap. His other arm was being pressed between the wall and his body. His black eye still throbbed and being thrown against the wall wasn't helping.

"Please, Pitch, stop!" Jack begged.

"Nope." The senior cackled with laughter as he let the boy go, only to kick him down to the ground. He dug his foot into the tender area of Jack's back, making the boy moan in agony. "Oh, the sweet sound of pain and fear!"

Finally, Pitch released the boy for good. He stepped back a couple steps and watched as the freshman struggled to get to his feet. His left foot ached badly. He had come to school without his shoes again and Pitch had taken that opportunity to jump onto his toes. He found that he was bleeding under his nail.

"I have a very special punishment for you tomorrow," Pitch giggled as he walked away. "Don't bother not coming to school tomorrow. If you don't, then the punishment will be that much worse."

Jack watched as Pitch left. He had simply gone to use the restroom. Pitch had attacked him when he came out. Then this happened. A couple tears spurted into his eyes and he angrily blinked them away. He wasn't going to cry. He wasn't going to show weakness like that.

Again, the freshman shoved his hood over his head so it shadowed the scratches and black eye from anyone who happened to notice him. Those four seniors had tried talking to him again. That's why Jack had to flee the classroom.

"_You should participate today!" _that cheerleader, Tooth, had said.

_What would I participate with? _Jack thought angrily as he limped back toward the Theatre classroom. He remembered that they were going to play Never Have I Ever again. Maybe he'd be able to participate with that. _Fine. I'll participate._

Jack passed a flier posted on a wall that was about the school's No Bullying Policy. Enforced. Every student is safe from harm. The freshman tore it down with fury. No bullying? Please. He knew firsthand that that was completely untrue. He had the bruises and cuts to prove it.

The freshman entered the Theatre class and put the bathroom pass back on its hook. He took a seat in the circle. He'd participate for this game. Just this once.

"Never have I ever . . . been out of state!" the girl in the middle announced. Most people got up. Jack stayed down.

Tooth was left in the middle. She giggled and covered her mouth, blushing slightly. It was apparent she embarrassed easily. "Um, never have I ever . . . been to Australia!"

"Aw, now that's unfair," Aster grumbled as he was the only one to stand up. Tooth giggled with glee and took his seat. "Never have I ever been to prom."

The seniors all stood up and scampered about. Sandy was left in the middle. He gave a silent sigh and wrote something down on his notebook, handing it to Tooth to read aloud.

"'Never have I ever had a nightmare'," she read. She shoved it into Sandy's hands as she ran about with the other people. Jack moved over one seat, but no one noticed.

North was left and he grumbled something under his breath. "Never have I ever been ice skating!" Again, Jack just went over one seat in all the confusion and no one paid attention.

A girl that Jack didn't know the name of stood in the center sheepishly. "Um . . ." She obviously didn't know what to say. "Never have I ever . . . been bullied?" A couple murmurs of laughter rippled through the class. The school had a No Bullying Policy. Nobody here had been bullied, what was this girl thinking?

Giving himself a tiny sigh, Jack Frost slowly stood, trying to ignore the pain in his foot. A couple gasps came the class, mostly the four seniors who had been trying to befriend them. He walked to the center of the circle and the girl sat down numbly. She must feel bad to make him show everyone he'd been bullied.

Jack mumbled his Never Have I Ever under his breath. A few people leaned in closer.

"You have to speak up," the teacher advised as she watched from her desk. Jack mumbled again. "Louder!"

"Never have I ever had a friend!" Jack shouted, lifting his head up. His hood ended up slipping halfway down his head, revealing his beat up face. More gasps erupted from the class.

"Jack!" Tooth squeaked.

Jack noted that he heard a bunch of whispers from the class like "That's his name? Jack? Jack who?"

The bell suddenly rang out and Jack shoved his way out of the circle he grabbed his backpack and ran out of the room, trying to fight back his tears of embarrassment.

"Jack!" the four seniors called, running after him.

_Never have I ever had a friend!_

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**If you voted for one of the characters falling in love with an OC then you can post suggestions for that person's name (please specify for which guardian the OC would be associated with) and any other descriptions for the person you'd like to include (appearance, personality, unique traits, grade, etc.) but you don't have to. Please read and review.**

* * *

He said that. He actually _said _that! It was bad enough that he was the only one who stood up for being bullied, but he had actually said that he'd never had a friend. How embarrassing was that? How was he supposed to face everyone tomorrow, after they'd seen his black eye and heard one of his deepest secrets? And then there was the whole punishment that Pitch was going to give him tomorrow. The bully had said that this was the last punishment for a while, which relieved Jack, but didn't it mean that this was also the worst punishment until the next time he crossed paths with the senior?

Jack shook his head as he burst out of the school. He was so glad that it was the end of the day, even if it meant having to go back . . . home. No, he wasn't going to go home right now. He couldn't face everyone with his black eye and injuries and embarrassment that still filled him. No, he'd go to the lake . . .

"Jack!"

The boy glanced back to see with fear that the four seniors—those _stupid _seniors—were barreling after him. He gulped and looked back ahead, trying to run faster. But his foot still stung from Pitch's stamping on it and his stomach hurt. Pitch had kneed him in the stomach the day before.

"Jack, please!" Tooth called. She had taken off her heels and was running cautiously, trying to avoid stepping on anything that'd hurt her feet.

Jack should've known better than try to outrun a quarterback, though. North quickly caught up to the freshman and planted his beefy hands onto the small boy's shoulders, bringing him to a halt immediately.

"Lemme go!" the freshman shrieked, struggling. North just lifted the boy off the ground and Jack kicked with his feet. "Let go of me!"

"Jack, we're concerned," Tooth whimpered when the other three had caught up with them.

"No you aren't!"

"Yes we are, mate," Aster said.

"I'm not your mate! You barely know me! You just learned my name a couple days ago! Leave me alone!"

Sandy wrote on his notebook _But we want to get to know you. _He held it out to Jack but the boy kicked it away angrily.

Toothiana gave him a sad look. "We're worried about you—"

"_No _you're _not! _Nobody cares about me! Only _I _care about me! You guys certainly don't! You just need me for that senior assignment, right? I found out about that and I _don't _want to be your little _guinea pig!_"

The seniors gulped, guilt creeping into them.

"Sure, that might've been our intention at first . . ." Tooth admitted weakly.

"But we're just concerned, now," North finished, lowering the boy to the ground but keeping a firm grip on his shoulder. He turned Jack around so he was facing all of them. "How did you get that black eye?"

"_And if you tell on me, if I get punished, I'll do so, so much worse to you."_

Pitch's threat echoed in Jack's head and he looked away. "It was an accident. I was . . . I was playing with my sister, teaching her baseball, and the ball hit me in the eye."

They didn't look too convinced. Aster glanced down at his feet. He suddenly realized that he was barefoot. "Did someone take your shoes?"

Jack glared at the Australian. "No, I left them at home because I like to be barefoot."

Aster sighed. "No need to be sarcastic."

"I'm not being sarcastic, it's the truth!"

"What about your toe?" Tooth asked, pointing to the bleeding under the nail.

"Someone accidentally stepped on my foot in the hall. Now will you _let me go?_"

"You said you were bullied," North pointed out. "Are these injuries actually due to bullying?"

Jack gritted his teeth. "_No! _Like I said, they were accidents! I was bullied in middle school, okay? And I get it: 'No Bullying Policy'. How could I be bullied if _that's _in place?" The freshman hoped that they didn't notice the sarcasm in his last comment.

"Jack . . ." Tooth placed her hand on his shoulder before he flinched away from her touch. "We want to be your friends, okay? We don't want that Never Have I Ever to be true."

The white-haired boy stared wide eyed at the four of them. North and Tooth gave him a comforting smile. Sandy was giving him a friendly grin. Aster just gave him a scowl with hard eyes. But Jack could see the concern in them, if he looked closely.

_Do they care about me? _he thought. _No . . . no, they wouldn't. No one cares about me . . . I'm always ignored. A wall flower. A loner. Someone that should just disappear into the darkness . . ._

"_Just disappear and fall off the face of the earth!"_

Jack gave a wince as the voice echoed in his mind and he stumbled back a couple steps. Tooth rushed forward to steady him but he just slapped her hand away.

"I don't need your pity," he growled, trying to keep tears from emerging into his eyes. "I don't need you guys to pretend like you actually care about me. I don't need anyone, all right?!"

The boy turned and ran, ignoring the searing pain in his foot and the dubbing ache in his stomach. He disappeared into the darkness of the forest that outlined the school.

Tooth started to sob quietly. It wasn't that Jack had hurt her when he hit her hand away, but she felt like a failure just then. She had tried to reach out to Jack but she felt as if they hurt him instead. He had visibly _winced _in _pain _before he took off.

"He's hiding something," Aster finally decided as North comforted Tooth with a tiny hug. Sandy nodded. "I'm going after him."

"You're just going to hurt him more," Tooth whimpered.

"I'm just going to find out where he _goes _after school. I won't talk to him. Yet."

As the Australian started after the freshman, Sandy joined him.

"You coming too, Sandy?" Aster asked. The mute boy nodded. "A'right. Let's go."

()()()

Jack ran through the forest, whapping branches out of his face and stumbling over the uneven path. A couple tears were now falling freely down his face and he cursed himself for being so weak. He just had to get away from that school. He had to get away from those stupid seniors. Get away from his home. Get away, get away, get away.

That's all he'd ever done.

He'd just run away. Every time. He'd just run. They always found him again before he was able to leave the state, though. He hated that. When they brought him back to his home all they'd do is slap him on the wrists. Ground him. They wouldn't actually _punish _him. Why? Why wouldn't they do _something _to let him know that he was still . . .

Alive?

Jack finally made it to the clearing. He stopped for a moment, looking out onto the lake. He saw her. A tiny girl with long brown hair, bright intelligent brown eyes, and a plain clothed wood-brown dress. The whole of her was like a chocolate bar, save for her pale skin. She looked at him and smiled brightly, waving. He looked away, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head. When he looked back . . .

She was gone.

* * *

**Please review and let me know what you think!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to everyone who has given a review! Honestly, they motivated me so much and made me so happy to know that you all like my story. Thank you! And also thank you to anyone who has or will participate in the poll, it's very much appreciated! I'm going to wait until after I close the poll to use its results, but the poll won't be closing for a while in order to allow more people to vote.**

**Please read and review.**

* * *

Jack choked back a sob and his toes curled around the cold dirt underfoot. It was still fall. The snow wouldn't fall for at least another month, and the lake wouldn't start to freeze for just as long. He walked down to the shore and dipped his injured foot into it, feeling the relief of the water as it zapped his aching toes. He quickly withdrew it, though, remembering the girl.

The boy gave a depressed sigh and glanced around. There it was. He wandered over to a certain tree that had low hanging branches with leaves that tickled his neck as he gently pushed them aside. There, hidden from view, was a wryly tree branch that he had found a few years ago. He had broken it off a little more to make it into a fashionable staff. Over the years the jagged edges had worn smooth and fit into his hand.

The freshman pulled it out from its safekeeping place. The wood was smooth and familiar against his fingers. He hadn't held it since summer. For a couple minutes he just walked the perimeter of the lake, twirling the staff like it was a baton or dragging it about.

Finally Jack got to a smooth patch of dirt toward the southern edge of the lake. His foot absently dug into the dirt while he ran the edge of the staff in the dirt. When he finished, he found that he had drawn two triangles to form a star, much like the Star of David. He sighed and he tapped each point of the star.

"Christopher St. North," he muttered under his breath, pressing in a large indent at the point to the top of the star. Moving counter clockwise, he made an indent in the next point. "Toothiana Middleton." Another point. "Aster Bunnymund." Next point. "Andy Sanderson." He paused as he pressed the end of his staff into the next point. His eyelids drooped as if he was bored and he stared at the point before muttering, "Jackson Overland Frost . . ." Then his attention turned to the last point. One more person to fill in. One more person. The person that's the reason why he was going to this school and why he was thrown into all of this. He leaned against his staff as it pressed into the point. "So—

"NO!" He seethed and straightened up. He wiped away the star with his foot and tossed his staff in anger. The wood landed on the shore, half of it floating in the water. Sighing, Jack walked over to the wood and picked it up, wiping some of the water off of it.

_I'd better go home, _he thought sadly as he hid the wood back by the tree, out of view. The boy started walking out of the woods, unaware of Aster and Sandy having been watching him from the shadows.

"I'll follow 'im," Aster whispered to the mute. "You go and check out that staff of his. I'll message you when I'm finished, so just go home after, 'kay?"

Sandy nodded and quietly went over to the tree that hid the staff while Aster scampered off after Jack. Being careful to not get his hair caught on the branches, he pulled staff out. The mute boy felt a little guilty handling it, since it was Jack's property and it was apparent he didn't want people to use it, but he wanted to help the boy. If finding out what this staff was about would help them, then he thought he could forgive himself.

The staff itself wasn't that special. It was a branch from what seemed to be a wryly dead tree where the wood was almost crafted. The edge of the branch had curled over to make a half circle, leaving a little stub connecting the straight and curved parts. There wasn't anything really _special _about it.

Wait. Sandy peered closer and could make out that someone had carved something into the side of it, following one of the curving bumps. However, the wood had been worn so much that he couldn't read the name. It seemed too long to be 'Jack' or 'Frost'. It might've been 'Jackson', after all that was Jack's real name, since he'd said so. But the first letter didn't seem to be a J. If anything, it seemed to be a . . .

An S!

Sandy could almost imagine exclamation points appearing above his head. S. Was this the name that Jack had suddenly stopped himself from saying? What was the story behind it? Was the person a girl or a boy? Young or old? Alive or . . . dead?

Pursing his lips in thought, Sandy carefully replaced the staff. He glanced back toward where Aster and Jack had left, wondering if he could catch up to them. To his disappointment, he decided that he probably shouldn't. Even if he could, Aster had told him to just go home. He should do what his friend asked.

()()()

While Sandy went to inspect the staff, Aster went after Jack. He was sure to keep the boy in sight, but also kept far back enough that Jack wouldn't notice that he was being followed. Even so, the Australian winced at ever twig he snapped or ever ruffle of leaves underfoot. Jack didn't seem to notice, luckily.

It was harder when they finally emerged from the forest. Jack had walked parallel to the normal path home from the school so when they got out of the forest they were back in town. Jack quietly whistled to himself as he walked through the streets of town.

_Is that 'Hush a Bye Baby'? _Aster wondered as he followed discreetly.

The freshman turned off into a side street that led to the older part of town, away from the hustle and bustle and more towards the countryside.

_Where is he going?_

After a few minutes of walking and whistling other children's tunes like _John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmitt _and _This Land is Your Land_, they both found themselves at a grand building, nearly as big as the school, with a humungous green lawn and a bunch of children of all ages ranging from four to seventeen running around and playing.

"Jack! Jack!" a few of the younger kids called happily, running up to him. Aster stayed back by the perimeter wall, watching through the gate, and not drawing attention to himself.

"What the . . .?" Aster glanced at the sign on the gate reading _Eliphonie's Orphanage._ "An orphanage? Why's he here?"

"Jack!" one of the four year old boys shrieked cheerfully, stretching his arms up to the teen. Jack gave a soft chuckle and pulled him up into his arms. The boy giggled. He had bright blonde hair and clear blue eyes. The tiny child's cheeks were fat and seemed even bigger since he was smiling. "Missed you!"

"I missed you too, Izzie," Jack cooed, ruffling his hair. Izzie giggled.

"Come on jack, play with us!" the other kids encouraged, pulling at his pant legs.

"Okay, okay . . ." Jack put Izzie back down on the ground and proceeded to play with the kids, giving them piggyback rides or joking around. Aster smiled to himself as he watched, realizing that Jack honestly wasn't as withdrawn as he seemed at school.

A painful shriek corrupted the feeling of happiness, though. Jack stopped what he was doing and looked over to find a young girl with braided orange hair, glassed, and a white dress on standing wobbly on a tree branch, high up.

"Whoa, Courtney, what are you doing?" Jack called, rushing over to the tree.

"I-I was climbing a-and didn't realize how h-high I was . . ." The girl gulped and her eyes shone with fear.

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Jack whispered. "Stay right there, don't move . . ." The teenage boy scaled up the tree until he was as high as her. He started to inch toward her when he heard a loud crack underfoot and he slid back toward the trunk of the tree.

"Jack . . .!" Tears were sliding down Courtney's face now as she looked down to find that she was so high up where if she fell, she could get seriously hurt.

"Hey, hey, it's okay . . . We're gonna play a game. Got it?"

Courtney looked at him doubtfully. "But . . ."

"Come on. It's real easy. You know the balance beam at school?"

"Y-Yeah . . ."

"Pretend you're on top of that. Just walk towards me, keep your balance . . ."

The tiny girl gulped and did as he said, wobbling on the branch but keeping her balance. There was another crack and the branch started to break. "Jack!"

"It's all right! Keep coming . . ."

Courtney was just a couple feet away and Jack reached out his arms. He grabbed her and pulled her close just as the branch snapped. It broke and was hanging for a moment, threatening to fall down to the ground. Jack kept his hold on Courtney secure and peered down, seeing the other children crowded around the tree. "Get away!" he shrieked.

The kids did as commanded and that was when the branch fell, smashing against the ground. Luckily it didn't hit any of the children.

Sighing in relief, Jack scaled down the tree, holding Courtney in his arms. When they got to the ground he set her down and planted his hands on her shoulders. "Don't go climbing any trees anymore, okay?" Courtney nodded, wiping her tears out of her eyes. Jack smiled and readjusted his glasses for her. "Good."

The sound of an old fashioned church bell rang out an adult woman came out of the building, calling through a megaphone, "Time for dinner! Come in, kids!"

Jack led the children into the orphanage, smiling and laughing and joking.

For a few minutes, Aster stayed out by the gate, waiting for Jack to come out so he could follow him and see what kind of house life he lived in. That's when Aster realized.

Jack was an orphan.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Please review and participate in the poll! And, like I said before, if you voted for one of the characters falling in love with an OC then you can post suggestions for that person's name (please specify for which guardian the OC would be associated with) and any other descriptions for the person you'd like to include (appearance, personality, unique traits, grade, etc.) but you don't have to.**


	7. Chapter 7

**For anyone who doesn't know, so far the most popular vote is for every one of the guardians to not have a love interest. I'm actually pleasantly surprised. I'd love to add drama with love interests (so I may do that even if the most popular vote is for them to not have any relationships) and I'm very happy to find that I've gotten three character suggestions! Thank you everyone who participated or will in the poll.**

**Please read and review.**

* * *

"He's an orphan . . ." Tooth whispered for the umpteenth time. The four of them were sitting in Theatre class, utterly shocked. Aster had gone home and messaged them the night previous. Only Sandy had been waiting for the message. The others got it in the morning when they checked their email. "I can't believe this!"

"It's not too hard to believe," Aster admitted. "He's withdrawn and has trust issues. Probably his parents gave him up and he doesn't want to get close to people in case he's adopted and has to move away."

"But an _orphan!_" Tooth cringed at the word. "It must be hard for him, you know? And . . ." She gave a sigh but then gave a slight smile. "I'm glad that he gets along well with kids, though."

"It is comforting," North agreed with a smile.

Sandy tugged on North's coat sleeve and held up his notebook.

_Where is he?_

The others looked up to find that, even though the class started a few minutes ago—not that the teacher did anything with them for the first half hour—Jack wasn't in the class.

Tooth's mood immediately took a downfall. "I saw him today. I had tried to talk to him but he ran away. But he _was _here today!"

The others nodded and the cheerleader went up to the teacher, giving a new excuse to get them out of class to look for Jack.

"Let's check where we found him last time, first," Aster suggested. They did.

He wasn't there.

Their worries growing, the foursome checked in every hall.

"Oh, where is here?" Tooth whimpered.

Sandy held up his notebook to Aster. _We didn't check the gymnasium or pool._

"He wouldn't be in the gym," the Australian explained, "because P.E. is going on. But maybe the pool . . . after all, he seemed to like the lake."

They nodded and headed to the pool.

()()()

Pitch had grabbed him before class.

The baseball player had simply snatched Jack, right out of the halls and dragged him away from the Theatre class. Jack knew better than to call out for help. After all, if Pitch got caught . . .

"Where are we going?" Jack asked, masking his fear well.

"Your special, final punishment place." Pitch said nothing further and Jack had to wait to find out just what his 'punishment' was going to be.

Then they arrived at the pool.

Jack gulped, remembering the lake. The girl. Falling. The cold. Memories swept back to him like time was turning back. He saw her, standing—

_No, no, no, stop it!_ he scolded himself silently, biting his lip.

Before Jack could ask what exactly Pitch was going to do, the bully shoved him even harder than usual straight at the tile wall. He slammed against it and groaned. Then Pitch drew him back and shoved him again. Again. Again. That's all the bully did. He just slammed Jack against the wall over and over again. By the time he finally finished, Jack had hit his head so many times that he couldn't see clearly. He could barely stand without Pitch's assistance. Not that Pitch let him go anyway.

"I'll be leaving now," the bully whispered with his silk smooth voice into Jack's ear. With a gently nudge toward the pool, Jack stumbled forward and slipped into the pool waters. Pitch gave a naïve cackle of laughter and left, letting Jack get out on his own.

Except Jack couldn't.

Everything was disoriented. Alarm bells were shrieking in his ears and he felt the sting of chlorine in his eyes and the cool chill of the water against his skin. His sweatshirt floated around him. Why couldn't he control his limbs? The only movement he could get out of them was spastic movements.

_Go towards the top, _he told himself. _Go towards the top!_

His arms moved, his legs kicked, but he couldn't tell which way was up and which way was down. He couldn't see because everything was blurry. His hand pressed against cool tile which he couldn't tell was the side or the bottom.

_Can't breathe . . ._

Jack was losing even more control over his body and his mind was slipping into unconsciousness. He needed air. He needed to breathe. Where was the surface . . .?

The four seniors walked into the pool, glancing around, when they spotted the thrashing and bubbles coming from the pool. While the other three stood still in shock, Aster threw off his boots and dove in immediately, his instincts taking over.

_Can't . . . breathe . . ._ Jack thought tiredly as his eyes drooped shut. His arms slowly stopped flailing and his legs stopped kicking. He vaguely felt someone's arm cling around him as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Aster burst out onto the surface, lugging Jack with him. North helped drag Jack out and Tooth gave Aster a hand to pull him out. North and Sandy were frantically checking Jack over.

"Come on, Jack," North whispered. A moment later Jack started coughing and hacking and sputtering, finally drawing in a breath. They all sighed with relief. The boy was still passed out, though.

"What was he doing here?" Tooth asked, tears having pricked in her eyes from the scare.

North gave a shrug and picked up the boy into his hefty arms. "I don't know, but we have to get him to the nurse . . ."

()()()

"_Jack!"_

_Jackson Overland Frost gave a laugh as he ruffled his little sister's hair as she shoved her feet into her skates._

"_Those are way too small for you," Jack teased as he helped her tie them up._

"_Don't care," she hissed, sticking her tongue out at him. "Besides, we can't buy any new ones. Mommy said that we can barely get by."_

"_I know, I know . . ." He helped her stand up, wobbly on the blade, and helped her walk out onto the ice. "Ready to play?"_

_She gave a giggle. "Yeah!"_

_Together they danced and skated. Jack hadn't put his skates on. For a moment, he just wanted to mess around with his little sister._

"_Hey, check it out!" he called as he ran off the ice, being sure to keep an eye on him. He picked up a branch that had fallen off. It was shaped intricately, almost like a staff. He went back to his sister, grinning. "Isn't this awesome?"_

_She smiled. "Yeah, it's pretty cool."_

"_I'm an evil wizard," he said in a low, movie-narrator voice. "And I will get you!"_

_She gave a squeal as she skated from him. Everything was perfect. Everything was so happy, so wonderful . . ._

_Until they reached _that spot.

"_Jack!" she squeaked when the ice cracked under their feet._

"_It's okay, it's okay . . . Don't look down, just look at me."_

"_Jack, I'm scared."_

"_I know, I know . . ." The ice cracked again under his feet when he tried to get closer to her. He gave a weak smile. "You're gonna be all right. You're not gonna fall in." He thought frantically. "We're gonna have a little fun instead."_

"_No we're not!"_

"_Would I trick you?"_

"_Yes! You always play tricks!"_

"_Well not this time . . . I promise, you're going to be fine. You have to believe me." He glanced at the staff, laying forgotten on the ice. "You wanna play a game? We're gonna play hopscotch, okay? Simple enough?"_

_He slowly counted one, two, three. Jumping with each number until he was off the thin ice. He looked at her, still keeping his elfish grin. Still keeping her calm. "Now, it's your turn."_

_He slowly counted. She took tentative steps. One. Step. Two. Step. Three!_

_He reached out with the staff to grab her but before he could pull her to safety, the ice disappeared under her feet and she disappeared into the water with it. He let out a shriek and surged forward, his arm plunging into the water._

"_Sophia!" he screamed, calling out her name with fear. "Sophia!"_

_No, no, no, this couldn't be happening! This couldn't happen!_

_He withdrew his hand, it too numb to even move. Tears were already falling down his cheeks. His sister. She was gone. His sister was _gone. _It was all his fault . . ._

"_Your fault." Jack suddenly found himself in his parents' house, staring at the floor. He'd told them. He told them what happened. His father was giving him a hard look as his mother was sobbing hysterically. "This is your fault, Jack."_

"_I know," he whimpered through his tears. "But—"_

"_Just disappear and fall off the face of the earth!" his mother shrieked, burying her face into her husband's chest. Jack's jaw fell._

_Then he was in the orphanage._

"_I'm alone . . ." he whispered, staring at the building. "I'm alone. I always will be, now. Nobody will care. Nobody will care about me. Nobody would care about someone who . . . who killed their sister!"_

_Nobody would care about a MURDERER._

* * *

**Thank you for reading! Please review and participate in the poll!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you everyone who has reviewed, favorite, or are following! Also special thanks to those of you who commented an original character I may use. I love all of them! Please read and review the next chapter, which I know you all have been eagerly waiting for.**

* * *

Jack woke with such a jolt that he shot straight up in bed. His breathing was heavy and panicked. He felt too hot. Too confined. Too trapped.

"Jack. Jack, please, calm down!"

He couldn't see. Why couldn't he see? Everything was black and the world felt like it was spinning or tipping. Being tossed around like a birdie in Badminton.

"Jack. Jack . . .?"

The voices were distant and distorted. He couldn't tell if they were different, the same, female or male, old or young. It sounded like they were being spoken through water.

Water.

Ice.

Death.

"Don't be scared . . ."

"We're right here, mate . . ."

Mate. There was that word. So the kangaroo was here? Why couldn't Jack identify his easily recognizable, annoying voice?

"What's wrong . . .?"

"Jack . . . Jack. I need you to focus, okay . . .? Focus . . ."

Focus of on what?

The darkness started to fade and bits of color started to morph into view. It was way too blurry to make out anything, though. Jack was scared. What happened, why, how . . .?

"Focus, Jack . . ." Was that North? The freshman could barely make out an accent. "How many fingers, Jack?"

Fingers? What fingers?

"Jack, can you hear us?"

How desperately Jack wanted to answer. To tell them that he could. That was _scared_.

_Yes! Yes, I can hear you!_

All that came out was a garbled moan that fluctuated as if he were trying to speak. Which he was.

"Don't strain yourself . . ."

Jack felt a tiny hand gasp his and the boy tightened his grip around it. _Must be Sandy, _he thought through the clouds.

Minutes passed in a similar way. Jack had slowly lain back down and the seniors kept talking to him.

When Jack had first jerked awake, North had been entirely fearful. The boy's eyes were wide open, but they were blank and zombie-like. The pupils were dangerously dilated even though the infirmary was brightly lit. His face was slick with sweat all of a sudden and he was even paler than he normally was.

Tooth was the one to gently push him back to lying down. She remembered one experience where she'd fainted from dehydration during cheer practice. From what her friends told her, she had looked a lot like how Jack looks now when she'd come to. They'd just kept her laid down until she finally felt well enough and her vision had cleared. It was something about blood circulation to the brain.

"Are you feeling better?" North whispered.

Jack gave a mumbled yes. "What happened . . .?" he asked weakly, eyes closed.

"We found you drowning in the pool and Aster pulled you out."

The Australian raised his eyebrows. "Can you not swim?"

"I can swim," Jack growled, opening his eyes slightly. He immediately regretted sounding so angry and bitter. The four of them were surrounding his bed, staring at him with such worry and concern. Even Aster was showing his emotion freely, fiddling with the edge of his bandana.

Tooth looked at him with concern. "What happened, dear?"

"I . . . err . . . I hit my head. I must've slipped into the pool and . . . could get out. Because I hit my head."

The seniors didn't look convinced.

"Jack," Tooth whispered in a caring voice. "Have you been getting bullied?"

"No! That was . . . was middle school, not—"

"Jack."

They stared at him with hard eyes. Jack bit his lip. How could he lie to them? They'd just saved his life. The least he could do was tell them the truth.

"Fine," he murmured, looking down and messing with the sheet. "Weston Blackwood has been bullying me."

Their eyes widened. Aster clenched his fists, giving a low growl. "So, the pitcher has been doing this? That little conniving . . ." He forced himself not to use obscene language. "I'll kill him!"

"No, Aster," Tooth sighed. "We have to tell the principal, Mr. Moon."

"NO!" Jack shouted. They looked at him, bewildered.

"Why not?" North asked. "He's bullying you. He must be stopped."

"H-He said if he gets caught he'll do even worse to me . . ."

"Jack." North sat down so that he could look the freshman in the eye. "You have four seniors who will protect you. The principal who will be sure to keep Weston out of your hair. He won't be able to do anything to you. And he's going to get seriously punished."

Jack gulped, still unconvinced. But then he looked at the determined faces of the seniors and knew that even if he refused, they'd go to Mr. Moon anyway.

"Okay," he whispered faintly. "We'll tell the principal."

()()()

"You'll regret this," Pitch growled so quietly that only Jack, who was standing next to him, could hear. Jack's eyes widened slightly and he gulped, trying to not show his fear. "You're going to wish you'd never been born by the time I'm done with you." His dark eyes slid over to glare at the boy. "You ruined my winter break!"

As the seniors and Jack left, Pitch staying behind in Mr. Moon's office to get his punishment, they gave small cheers.

"That'll teach him!" Tooth cheered.

"I wish I could've killed him, right there," Aster sighed, cracking his knuckles.

"Calm down."

"We should celebrate!" North volunteered. "Let's hang out this Sunday, to celebrate winter break, as well!"

Sandy nodded eagerly and wrote down his suggestion. _Let's go some place fun and wintery!_

"Hmm . . ." North thought and stroked his beard. He snapped his fingers and offered, "The lake!"

"Lake?" Jack asked worriedly.

"Yeah. The one in the center of the woods. Can't miss it!"

"I know it . . ."

"Good! We'll meet there and we can skate, have snowball fights, and all sorts of fun!"

"O-Okay . . ." Jack said weakly, trying to give a smile.

Aster and Sandy exchanged worried looks but didn't say anything. Jack hadn't seemed really bothered at the lake, just confused about the seniors.

Right?

* * *

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you everyone for your consistent support for this story!**

* * *

Sunday rolled by faster than Jack thought it would. He left the orphanage, waving goodbye to all the kids, swinging his skates by the laces on the way to the lake. He tried to whistle to calm his nerves. Whistling little kids' songs always calmed him down. He remembered the conversation he'd had with Lorelei, the owner of the orphanage earlier that day . . .

"_Are you sure you want to go?" she asked._

"_Yeah. I can't just stand them up."_

"_But, after everything that's happened there . . ."_

"_I'll be safe. I'll make sure that they're safe, too."_

"_All right . . ." Before Jack left the room, she asked, "Are you finally making friends, Jack?"_

Jack hadn't answered. He'd just left. Was he making friends? Could he consider them friends? Or, more like bodyguards? After all, they were protecting him from Pitch when they got back to school. Would he really be 'friends' with them when all of this died down?

The boy shook that thought from his mind. He was supposed to enjoy this day. It was a relaxing day. A fun day. It was the day after Christmas, after all.

He breathed in deeply, smelling the pine trees as he entered the woods. They always smelled delicious. He loved it so much. Often he'd take walks in the woods just so he could smell the pine in the air or hear the crunch of twigs underfoot. All of it was relaxing to him.

The snow was cold against his feet. He'd never wear shoes, not even in the winter. He'd only wear shoes if he needed to. After all, if the ground was hot and burned him, or was cold and froze his toes, he'd know he was alive. He'd know that he could still feel and that he wasn't slowly slipping into some numbing state.

After all, every day was the same.

He'd wake up. He'd brush his teeth. He'd joke around with the kids at the breakfast table. He'd go to school. He'd get bullied. He'd come home injured. He'd ignore it and play with the kids more. He'd give an excuse to Lorelei. He's eat dinner. He'd go to bed.

That was his routine. Rarely changed. It was so repetitive he could do it in his sleep. He often did the morning routine half awake. But after his beating at school he'd be awake. Then he'd crash at home, drifting off to sleep easily. That's why he was so tired the next day.

But the past few days, not having to have any bullies to deal with now that he was out of school for a couple weeks of winter, he'd slept better than he had in weeks. It felt good to wake up and actually have energy to twirl Izzie around or flick oatmeal at Michael.

He heard distant calls. His pace quickened and the lake finally got into view. He saw North building a snowman down by the lake's frozen shore. Tooth was dancing and skating on the ice in a leotard as colorful as her usual outfits that she must've brought. She had on a thick coat, though, obviously too cold to skate without it. Sandy was skating as well, but more by the shore rather than right out in the middle like Tooth. Aster was just observing, seemingly bored.

The freshman couldn't help but smile when he watched them, Tooth shouting at Aster to come and skate and then the Australian throwing insults back at her. North's hearty laugh and Sandy's silent snickers. The boy blinked.

_I'm happy to see them?_

That was certainly surprising. He didn't think that he'd be so happy when he was around _this _lake. He always thought that being around it would make him want to cry or lash out and attack something. But seeing the seniors there . . . It seemed to change his attitude.

Trying to hide his smile, he came down to the lake.

"Jack!" Tooth greeted happily, waving at him from the middle of the lake. He gave a half wave.

_I'm waving too?_

North grinned as he finished his snowman. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it!"

"I said I would." The freshman shrugged.

The cheerleader gave a gasp. "Are you not wearing any shoes?!"

Jack glanced down at his bare feet, which were starting to feel a little numb since he wasn't moving. "No, I am, they're just invisible bear skin."

Cracking sarcastic jokes. What next?

"Jack, that's not safe . . ."

"I do this every year. I haven't lost a toe yet."

"Just put on your skates, mate," Aster sighed, shifting his position in the snow. Jack rolled his eyes.

"All right, kangaroo."

"Quit calling me that!"

Jack laughed.

He _laughed._

_Something weird is definitely going on here._

The seniors seemed pleased that Jack was being more carefree. Maybe it was the winter and magic in the air, or maybe it was the fact that he was hanging out with kids more his own age than tiny elementary school kids. Either way, he was showing his true colors, finally.

The boy sat down and started to cram his feet into the skates. He realized he hadn't worn that pair of skates for a couple years. His feet should've grown at least one size, if not more. He was reminded of when she was trying to get her feet into the skates. Yes, she had looked funny doing that, So—

Jack stopped thinking for a moment, not doing anything. He just tried to clear his mind.

"I think those are a bit too small on you," North chuckled.

"Don't have any other."

"Those look so old," Tooth said, arriving at the shore. "How long have you had them?"

"A few years."

"What?" They all stared at him.

"I haven't been able to get a new pair," he explained. "Uh . . . financial problems at home. No biggie, they still fit okay."

He finally was able to jam his heel into the other skate and he stood. His toes felt squished, but he'd be able to skate.

"That looks uncomfortable . . ." Sandy nodded in agreement.

"I can still skate." He gave a tiny smile and wobbled out onto the ice. He nearly flinched when he thought he heard a crunch, but he realized it was just North walking through the snow.

"Be careful, Jack," the football player warned.

"I will. Come on, Tooth. You seem to be the only who really wants to skate."

The two held hands as they skated out. For about half an hour they just skated and laughed until the others called them back to the shore. Then they all had a snowball fight. They built snowmen. They chatted and discussed different classes in school.

"It's getting late," North observed at the sun started to set. "It seems we have to get home."

"Aw," Jack sighed.

Did he just say that out loud?

The others beamed at him and after they said their goodbyes, Jack headed home.

_This could work out, _he thought happily. _Pitch is taken care of, school is getting better, I won't get bullied and now I have . . . friends._

The word was foreign to him, but made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. Something that hadn't happened since his sister died. He thought that maybe, just maybe, the world was looking up. That everything was going to be okay. Everything was going to work out and things were going to live happily ever after.

He couldn't be more wrong.

Because Pitch had been planning. He'd started. He was prepared to make Jack's life absolutely and utterly miserable. Prepared to destroy him. Prepared to make him wish he had never been born.

Jack found that out when he came back to school.

* * *

**Please review and let me know what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Here's the next chapter. Thank you everyone who's voted and reviewed! Please read and review.**

* * *

Jack walked into school, feeling utterly uncomfortable. Lorelei had forced him to wear shoes that day. Even though the brown, cotton moccasins were soft and flexible, he hated having his feet fell so _confined _and _stiff._

He gave a yawn and ran his fingers through his bright hair. He'd have to dye his hair again pretty soon. Some of his original brown hair was starting to appear like highlights, giving extremely strong contrast to the rest of his snow white hair.

_I hope there isn't an algebra test today, _Jack thought bitterly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He had gotten his new schedule in the mail over break. Lorelei had signed him up for Honors classes, so he was now in Geometry, which was considered a sophomore class. There may be a review test to see if they remembered the algebra they had learned last semester.

"You're smart!" Lorelei had insisted when he complained about being signed up for all Honors classes.

"_Yeah right," _he had scoffed silently, walking out the door.

_She also signed me up for Theatre II, _Jack noted, back in the present as he glanced down at his schedule. _I hope the others are in that class . . ._

The boy continued down the halls, enjoying the halls which were quieter than usual. How rare. How wonderful. The air was just filled with the sounds of—

Jack suddenly stopped. He knew what the air was filled with. He recognized the sound very well.

Whispers.

He looked over to find a couple girls quickly look away from him, walking away hurriedly. Before he could even consider that they may just be gossiping or giggling about how he was 'hot' like a lot of girls do with guys in their school, some other boys sneered at him, giving Jack sour looks.

_Nobody notices me, _he thought, panic rising in his throat. _Nobody is supposed to notice me . . .!_

"Hey, Frost!"

Jack turned just before a beefy shoulder roughly nudged him hard enough to slam into the lockers. Clatters from the metal erupted into the air. He moaned and looked to see a couple football players scowling at him. The bigger one on the left had a mean face and a dirty jersey. The smaller one on the right had dark skin and evil, glaring eyes.

"I can't believe you," the bigger one growled.

"W-What . . .?"

"To think that I actually thought of you as some quiet kid. Some little innocent wallflower. But no. you're really a _demon _in disguise . . ."

"_What?_"

They gave him another shove and stalked off. Jack watched them go with wide, fearful eyes. Demon? Disguise? _What?_

"_You'll regret this. You're going to wish you'd never been born by the time I'm done with you."_

More fear rose in Jack's chest and panic started to claw at his stomach, making him feel sick. What did Pitch do? Was he responsible for . . . whatever was going on? Trying to keep his emotions under control, the boy raced to the seniors' English class, where he knew the four would be.

"Guys!" he called when he spotted them. They were waiting outside the classroom, waiting for the bell to ring. Aster was leaning against the wall, head down and arms crossed tightly. Tooth was sitting on the ground, looking sad. Sandy was sitting next to her, looking similar. North just looked annoyed, if not a little angry. "Guys, I think Pi—"

"What do you want, Frost?" Aster muttered in a bitter voice.

Jack's stomach lurched. "What . . . What happened to 'mate' . . .?"

"That went out the window when I found out what you're really like."

"What?"

"Jack, why'd you lie to us?" Tooth squeaked, looking away from him.

"What are you guys talking about?"

North sighed. "You had to lie about Pitch? What did you do to him?"

Jack's eyes grew to the size of saucers. "_What _are you talking about?!"

"Pitch told Mr. Moon the truth," Aster grumbled. "How you were framing Pitch. We found out about what you did at your old school, too."

Jack couldn't even speak now.

"You bullied people?" Tooth asked sadly, looking at him with her big, depressed eyes.

"I never did that!"

North shook his head slowly. "People from your old school justified that."

His old school? No. No, he was going to leave Bridgeway Middle School behind. He wasn't ever going to deal with the bullies, or the liars, or the drama or . . .

_Pitch lied, _he realized with a sudden jolt. _He found some of the kids who hated me and got them to say that I bullied them . . . No, no! How can they believe him?!_

"Why didn't you just tell us, Jack?" Tooth questioned with the melancholy prominent in her voice. "Why did—"

"I didn't do that . . ." Jack started backing away, not possibly believing what he was hearing. "I never bullied anyone, _I _got bullied! Pitch is lying! He—"

"Quit making excuses," Aster spat, looking up. Even his eyes were full of pain and misery.

_No, no, no! They're my friends! They're supposed to believe me . . . _

Tears spilled into Jack's eyes and for once he didn't bother to wipe them away. He didn't care if someone saw him show the pain that he carried around every day. He didn't care if anyone thought of him as weak, or needy, or anything. He just wanted _someone _to finally believe in him and know that he wasn't that kind of person!

"Running away like a coward?"

Jack gritted his teeth as the tears fell down his cheeks. The seniors looked surprised, since he'd never shown any real emotion around him, let alone crying.

"No, I'm not!" he yelled, attracting the attention of a few other seniors who were hanging around. He didn't care anymore. He'd been through too much to care. "Running away is something you do when you're scared. But I'm not scared! I'm not running _away _from anything; I'm running _toward _it!"

With that, he turned and sprinted away from them, ripping off his moccasins as he did so and tossing them aside. He ran faster when he was barefoot. His backpack dropped from his shoulders, spilling everything out of it as he went around the corner, full speed.

Sandy cautiously stood and retrieved the shoes, treating them with care. He was the one who really wanted to believe that Jack had never done any of those things. Jack wasn't that kind of person. Sandy had never believed so. The mute boy then went and picked up his backpack, which was a light blue bag that matched his sweatshirt. He brought it back to the group and went back for the things that fell out.

A pair of tiny mittens, a ribbon, and a small bracelet with beads on it, but still a lot of empty space on the string.

"What's with the mittens?" Aster asked a little curiously. "It looks like it belongs to a little girl."

Sandy shrugged and placed it back into the bag. Tooth gave a quiet sound that sounded like a shriek when Sandy started to put the ribbon back.

"What is it?" North asked.

"I-I know what th-that is . . .!" she whispered, eyes suddenly wide. "M-My cousin has one . . ."

"What is it?"

"It . . . It's what you get i-if you go to this meeting . . ."

"What meeting?"

"It's sort of l-like a therapy session . . . for people that tried to . . ." She gulped. "To kill themselves."

Silence suddenly filled between them. Sandy deposited it back into the bag quickly. He glanced at the bracelet. Tooth gave another squeak.

"And that," she murmured, "is a motivation bracelet . . ."

"What's that?"

"You put a bead on the string every week that you don't do self harm . . . You're supposed to write the date on each bead . . ."

North peered down at the bracelet. "It seems that he had a few during summer and the first couple weeks of school, but then . . . there isn't any until winter break . . ."

The four glanced at each other.

"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Tooth whispered.

There didn't need to be an answer. The four went after Jack.

"I know where he went," Aster said, taking charge. There was only one place Jack could go in the middle of the day, if he couldn't go home to the orphanage.

They didn't believe him. They didn't believe him! Jack couldn't believe this. He couldn't stand it. He felt the familiar feelings creeping up. Despair. Loneliness. The feeling like he couldn't do anything to ease the pain. But there was a way.

Create worse pain to distract you.

He easily left school campus. The security at their school wasn't exactly the best. He ran straight into the woods, ignoring the pain in his feet from rocks or twigs, yet embracing the pain to make the emotional pain less severe.

Didn't help.

There was a way that he knew how to make the pain less severe.

He erupted into the clearing, spotting the lake immediately. He couldn't change his mind. He wasn't going to wait this time. Immediately, he ran to the tree and took out his staff. Next he ran out onto the ice, expertly sliding along with it so he came to the middle. The thinnest part of the ice.

With a strong thrust, he brought the end of the staff down onto the ice, creating a nice big hole. He cleared away some more ice until finally he had a nice large opening.

He dunked both his feet in.

The pain immediately struck his skin like a whip against the body, combining with the cold to create an almost instant numbing feeling. He wished he could feel this all over. Just feel numb. Just to know that everything could go away in a second.

_It can happen, _Jack decided. _It can be an accident. Like with . . . like with Sophia._

The boy gave a nod, his mind made up. He crept up to the edge. He exhaled his breath that he'd been holding. And scooted just a little more forward.

"JACK!" came several voices all at once like high shrieks of terror.

But he had already slipped into the water's deadly gasp.

* * *

**Please review and let me know what you think.**


	11. Chapter 11

**I know a lot of you have wanted the next chapter because of my cliffhanger, so here you go. I hope you all enjoy! (Though, like with all of my chapters, there is a cliffhanger at the end). Please read, enjoy, and then review!**

* * *

Tooth gave out a loud shriek and ran out onto the ice, stumbling and slipping over the slick surface and her heels until she got to the hole. "Jack!" Before she could attempt to go in after the boy, Aster had his arms wrapped around her tiny figure, jerking her back.

"Don't be insane!" the Australian shouted into her ear as she struggled. His voice was quivering and his arms were wrapped around her so tightly, but it seemed like he was keeping her that tightly more for his sake than hers.

"Jack!" she cried out again desperately, ignoring Aster's shouting. More tears were pouring down her face, smearing her mascara and dripping bright scarlet eyeliner down her cheek. Utter horror was filling inside of her, and guilt was clawing at her throat.

They hadn't believed in him. They hadn't believed in Jack Frost. The boy who they knew was an orphan, a loner, and someone who was hurting deeply inside. Slowly. Painfully. But still hurting. They had been so desperate to learn _something _about his past that they had pounced on the first rumor that they'd heard about him. They'd ignored his pleas for belief and instead believed the lies and rumors that were most likely spread by _Pitch!_

In a world full of hateful lies, they'd left him by himself.

They'd left him alone.

North plunged his arms into the water, desperately trying to find the young boy. Sandy held the staff out to the Russian, who took it gratefully and searched once more, sending the wood down deep beneath the water's surface.

()()()

_Cold._

_The piercing, near freezing water set below the ice sizzled against my skin. It dug deep into my nerves, sending tingling pain through all of body like some fast growing disease. Nothing I've ever felt was nearly so cold, so freezing._

_Dark._

_I couldn't see a single thing. I could barely open my eyes against the frigid water as it was, but when I could, everything was pitch black . . . Pitch black. Was that important?_

_Numbing._

_I couldn't move any part of my body. There was absolutely no feeling in any of my fingers, any of my toes, no limbs either. It felt like my insides were also slowly freezing, losing feeling, and becoming blocks of ice. Nothing was so painful, but I didn't need anything anymore._

_Suffocating._

_The water, the black, inky water seemed thick. It wasn't water. It was pure, liquefied darkness. Something you could have no hope of swimming through. No chance of surfacing. No chance of getting a breath or life sustaining oxygen. No chance of survival._

_Deathly._

_No chance of survival._

_No chance of living._

_No chance of changing my mind._

_No chance._

_Suddenly I felt something bump against my leg. It was very faint, since I could barely feel anything past the pain, but then something curled against my back._

_Death's grip. That's what I thought it was. That's what I knew it was. It certainly felt that way. Felt deadly. The texture seemed familiar, too. It triggered bitter memories. Sad memories. Memories I'd tried to forget long ago but gave up when I realized that they'd never disappear. Sadness filled my body. I wanted it to end, to end . . ._

_My lungs were burning, begging for air. Death was waiting to claim me. I gave myself up to him._

_I passed out, feeling everything disappear. I slipped into unconsciousness so quickly that I couldn't tell if I ended up breathing in the water or not . . ._

_I hope I did._

()()()

North hoisted the boy out of the water. He was cold, like a dead body. His lips were blue and skin turning a similar hue. His eyes were closed and he didn't move at all, just like a limp noodle. The Russian pressed his ear against the boy's chest, feeling utter relief when he heard the heartbeat. Even if it was a snail's pace slow and faint. There was still hope.

He wrapped Jack up in his big fur coat, hoping that it would keep him at least a little warm. The four didn't even have to speak. They knew that Jack needed medical attention immediately.

Within minutes they arrived at the hospital. Nurses rushed about, taking the boy away from them. The kids were told to go back to school, or to go home. They couldn't bear to go back to school. They wouldn't be able to concentrate. So, instead, they went home. All of their parents gave them each a harsh scolding about skipping school until they got the chance to explain why. Then they got sympathy.

They didn't want it. They just wanted Jack's forgiveness.

()()()

A week passed and Jack finally was allowed to have visitors. The four seniors went there right after school, as they had done for the past seven days. They were positive that they were going to be allowed to see Jack that day.

A nurse with golden hair kept in a short bob guided them to his room and allowed them to go in.

"Jack!" Tooth cried with joy when she saw the boy sitting up in bed, flipping through a book. She threw herself onto him, giving him a tight hug. "We're so sorry, we're so sorry! We were so stupid! We won't doubt you ever again, we swear!"

The freshman seemed very alarmed at her cries, but he made no move to say anything or push her away. She finally pulled away, wiping her eyes.

"We _are _sorry, Jack," North insisted.

"Very," Aster said quietly, keeping his gaze at the ground.

Sandy nodded eagerly, handing Jack his notebook. _We should have believed you right from the start. But we know better now. We're going to help you and we're going to put a stop to whoever started those horrible rumors!_

Jack stared at them, tears in his eyes.

"Please don't ever do something like that again, Jack," Tooth whispered, looking down at her feet. "Please, please, don't. We barely got to you in time. And then you had very harsh hypothermia afterwards and . . ." She gulped down her words. Jack knew what happened. He had done so.

The freshman nodded and his head hung. He gripped Sandy's pencil and notebook, staring at the page.

"Please say something, Jack," Tooth begged, shutting her eyes. North looked at Sandy, who looked back. They both were worried and sad. Guilty.

Then the four heard the ruffle of paper. They looked up to see Jack holding up the notebook. As they read, their hearts sank. More guilt.

_I can't speak._

* * *

**Please review with what you thought and anything you'd like to let me know! Thank you.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you everyone who has reviewed, made this story a favorite, and is following. This story has amazingly become more popular than my last RotG fan fiction! A quick note to Feathered Moon Wings: I listened to the song and I agree, it does remind me of this story. Also, I will be posting another poll on my profile, so please check it out and vote when you can!**

**I apologize that this chapter is shorter than most. Please read, enjoy, and review!**

* * *

"You can't speak . . .?" Tooth murmured. She was trying so very hard to hide her emotions. She's cried too much in front of him. If she cried in front of him again, she just knew that he would permanently mark her as some unstable cheerleader. Granted, she was, but she didn't like being acknowledged as one.

Sandy pointed at Jack's throat, then at his own. His gestures spoke the words loudly. _Are your vocal chords damaged like me?_

Jack shook his head and scribbled on the notebook, then showing them. _The doctors said it's due to trauma. It's psychological or something._

"So you could speak if you wanted to?" North questioned. He hoped that Jack could. He didn't like the fact that the young boy couldn't speak. The jock was very aware of how hard it was to get through school when he was mute—he'd had enough classes with Sandy to understand.

_I guess but_—here, he paused and gave a sigh before continuing—_I feel like I can't._

They glanced at each other, feeling dreadful. If this was from trauma, was the trauma because he had tried to kill himself? Because they hadn't believed in him? Either way, this was their fault. "Jack—"

"Jack! Jack!" A flurry of children erupted into the room, mostly younger kids but a couple older ones too, suddenly mobbing the freshman and climbing onto his bed. Jack looked surprised and glanced at the seniors with a little worry in his eyes.

Aster's eyebrows rose as he recognized them as the kids from the orphanage. He murmured to the others' quietly, explaining who they were. The seniors nodded, understanding, and felt a little happy that so many of them had run in to see the freshman.

"We missed you, Jack!" Izzie cried, hugging him tightly. His blonde hair was disheveled but his chipmunk cheeks pressed against Jack's chest.

Courtney was standing at his bedside, looking at him with big eyes behind her glasses. She looked thoroughly worried. Maybe even as worried as the seniors had when they'd realized what Jack had been planning to do. "What happened, Jack?"

Lorelei walked in, midsentence. "—kids, why did you run off?" She stopped when she saw the children crawling over him like a disease and the other four seniors staring curiously. "Come on, kids. Jack already has visitors. We have to wait."

The children groaned but did as Lorelei asked, slowly getting off of their best friend and leaving the room. The seniors looked at him with a look that obviously wanted a real explanation from him. The freshman gave a sigh and quickly wrote on the notebook. He handed it to them to read.

_Fine. The truth is those are the kids I live with. I'm an orphan. My parents had given me up after an accident that had happened with my sister._

"What happened?" Tooth whispered.

So Jack ended up explaining to them, through writing, everything that had happened. How he and his sister had gone to skate, how she fell through the ice, and how his parents had blamed him. He also went on to explain how middle school had been horrible since he had no one to come home to. He hadn't tried in school. Always the loner. Never wanting to get close enough to anyone.

By the time the seniors knew the whole story; multiple emotions were swirling around in their stomachs. Jack had been through such cruelty. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair that he'd lost his sister. It wasn't fair that he had been blamed. It wasn't fair that he'd been abandoned. It wasn't fair that he had been bullied. It wasn't fair that they hadn't believed in him.

It. Wasn't. Fair.

"We're sorry," North muttered. "We're so sorry that we didn't believe you."

"But we do believe in you, mate," Aster encouraged. "We'll always believe you."

With a tiny nod, Jack gave a tiny smile and they smiled back. They seemed so sincere. They really sounded like they wanted to help. But Jack wasn't so convinced.

After all, they didn't notice that his smile was a fake one.

()()()

The first day back was horrible.

In English, he had been called on to read a passage o f the story they were reading. But he couldn't. He wanted so desperately to speak, but he just couldn't.

The teacher had scolded him.

In Geometry, the teacher had asked him to give the answer to the twenty-first question. Again, he couldn't speak. He yelled at himself mentally to speak. That people would make fun of him more if he didn't speak. But he couldn't.

The teacher had yelled at him.

By the time Biology came along, Jack had accepted the fact that he couldn't talk. He had let the Biology teacher know that he couldn't speak, by using the notebook. But the teacher didn't really believe him.

The teacher had lashed out at him.

Then Jack got to Theatre and the seniors helped him explain to the teacher what had happened. She'd accepted the fact and let Jack be silent for the day.

Jack gave a sigh as he walked through the deserted halls. He had actually been the last person to leave class because the teacher wanted to talk to him after class. She'd insisted that since it was psychological, he'd get his ability to talk soon.

That didn't matter to him.

The boy was just about to turn the corner when he heard something just past that corner that chilled him to the bone.

"Are you read y for your punishment, Aster?"

* * *

**Please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

The freshman peered around the corner. Just as he thought. He found Aster pressed up against the wall, his fingernails scratching the wall in anger. Pitch was standing in front of him, his arms blocking either side of Aster so the Australian couldn't get away.

"Shut up, Pitch," Aster growled. He tried to shove the pitcher away, but Pitch held him against the wall, palm digging into shoulder.

"You're a very pathetic human being, you know that?" Pitch murmured, his silky voice dripping with that same poisonous tone that he'd used when talking to Jack.

"Your words won't hurt me anymore."

_Anymore? _Jack thought. _So Pitch had said stuff like that to Aster before?_

"I know, you were such a _weak _little freshman when I met you."

"And you were a bossy, conniving sophomore."

"Why thank you."

"Not a compliment."

"Either way . . ." Pitch's grip tightened and Aster gave a grunt of pain. "You're such a pathetic person."

The bully, who was a couple inches taller than Aster, spun the Australian around, shoving his face against the wall. The wall's rough texture embedded into Aster's cheek, drawing a little blood.

"I still remember how you were in freshman year," Pitch murmured in Aster's ear. "You acted tough, but fear was always swirling in your eyes. You had a complicated past. I should know. I got you to tell me." Aster cringed, like he was remembering something painful. "You were so easy to punish. You wouldn't fight back. You'd let it happen. You would cry out louder than I've ever anyone cry out. I relished every time I got to punish you . . ."

"Stop." Aster's voice wavered a little bit. Fear was entering his body.

"Oh, yes, that tiny quiver. The fear." Pitch smiled and spun, grabbing Aster's shirt as he did so. The Australian ended up whipping around with the bully, being flung across the hall to the other wall, where he smacked against it. Jack retreated from the corner immediately, eyes wide.

_Pitch is bullying Aster now? No, wait, Pitch had already bullied Aster. That's obvious. But why is he doing it now all of a sudden?_

"You hurt Jack badly," Aster muttered as he pulled himself from the wall and back around to face Pitch. Some blood was dripping from his nose and he wiped it away. "You're going to pay for everything you've done to him."

"Me? I was already punished for what I did."

"That's a lie. You got a scolding and a short suspension. Jack nearly died because of you."

"No. Jack nearly died because of _you_." Aster's breath stopped short. "You and your other friends. After all, you didn't believe in poor little Jack when those horrible rumors got around. Why didn't you believe him, Aster? You call him a friend. You say he's important to you. And yet . . . you jump on the chance to throw under the bus."

"Shut up. We know you started those rumors."

"Do you? Do you have any proof? Because I surely didn't do it. The rumors must have been spread some other way. But, however it was spread, you must understand: you and your friends are what led him to try to kill himself."

The Australian suddenly felt like he couldn't breathe. He lost all feeling in his body. His feet stumbled back so he could lean against the wall for support. "You're a liar."

"Am I? Am I _really?_ Because, how I see it . . . he wanted it to end because no one believed him. Because he was all alone. Again. You four were the only reason he was having any _fun _in school. But you snatched that away from him in an instant."

Jack was starting to get angry now. How dare Pitch blame them! Sure, they didn't believe them, but he had been so secretive and withdrawn that he couldn't really blame them. They hadn't built any real trust. Yet he _knew _that Pitch must have spread the rumors, right? Pitch was messing with Aster. He was making Aster feel bad.

"Would you like to forget it all, Aster? Would you like to forget everything that you've done to hurt Jack?"

"No."

Jack's ears perked when he heard that.

Pitch leaned forward. "No?"

"No. If I ever forgot about how I hurt Jack, then I'd forget about how I'd helped him, too. I wouldn't be friends with him anymore. And I'd never let that happen."

The freshman's heart fluttered. Aster cared. All the four seniors did. They honestly cared about him. That was something that he hadn't felt since Sophia died.

Pitch's face soured. "Not the answer I expected."

"But it's the answer you got."

The bully jerked on Aster's bandana, drawing him close. They were practically touching noses. "I know why you wear _this, _Aster. You know that I do. You're making me very angry with your snarky retorts and I _won't have it._" Pitch threw the Australian to the ground, baring his teeth angrily. "It's time for your _punishment._"

Pitch drew up his foot, either to kick Aster or stamp on him, and Jack came barreling around the corner, knocking Pitch away from Aster.

"LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!" Jack screeched as Pitch tumbled to the ground.

* * *

**Please review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**I apologize that it took so long to post this chapter. But I hope that it was worth the wait! This is the second-to-last chapter with one more angst-situation. I hope you enjoy; please review!**

* * *

Aster stared dumbfounded at the freshman that stood above him, seething. The first thing that registered in the Australian's mind was that Jack had saved him from getting beaten by the nasty bully. The second was that Jack had spoken. The third, and probably most important, was what Jack had called him.

A friend.

"Jack," Aster whispered with wide eyes.

The boy stood, still angry, but his expression showed that he was just as shocked at Aster. He'd spoken. He'd spoken, defending Aster. Was that spell finally broken? Could he finally speak freely again?

Pitch sat up from the ground, snarling at the freshman. "What do you think you're doing, Jack Frost?!"

"D-Don't mess with . . . my friend," Jack murmured, still amazed that his voice was coming so freely.

"Don't you dare think that you can just tell me what to do!"

Jack walked over to Pitch, standing tall over the sitting figure. "Look. I will tell Mr. Moon what you've been doing. You'll get into even more trouble. Every time you both me, or my friends, or anyone, you'll get into trouble. It's simple as that. So leave us alone. Leave. Right now."

Pitch stared with wide eyes. "Don't feel as though I'm going to listen!"

The freshman simply glared, eyes hard and commanding. Pitch rolled his eyes as he stood.

"Fine," the bully growled. "I'll leave. But you haven't won, Jack Frost."

As Pitch walked down the hall and out of view, Jack turned and held a hand out to Aster. The Australian took it gratefully and got to his feet.

"You can speak," Aster whispered in awe.

"I guess I can, now." Jack shrugged.

Aster grinned. "We should tell the others."

Jack gave a half smile. "I guess we should."

()()()

More weeks passed .The rest of the seniors was so very happy to find out that their freshman could once again speak.

When the weather got warmer, and graduation was just around the corner, North suggested that they should go into the Sandilands.

"Sandilands?" Jack asked.

North nodded. "You know that area of desert-like landscape to the south of town?"

"Yeah. It transfers into the next town over."

"We nickname it Sandilands because it's so sandy." He grinned and glanced at Sandy, who rolled his eyes at the corny joke. "Anyway, when it gets warmer, we always go in and hang out there to make sand castles and stuff. So what do you say? Care to join us this weekend?"

"I don't know . . . I'm kind of more of a snow person. When summer rolls around I like to stay indoors."

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Tooth insisted. "We bring food and have a picnic too. It'll be really fun!"

Jack finally admitted defeat.

()()()

They met at the Sandilands that weekend. The sun shone above them, warming all of their bodies. The seniors were dressed in lighter clothing: Tooth had on a short pencil skirt with a sleeveless top, all bedazzled and bright colors; North didn't have his coat and instead had a short sleeved tee with khaki shorts; Sandy still had his gold attire but it was more beachwear; Aster had an extremely thin button up plaid shirt with a denim jacket over it whose sleeves cut off at the elbows, short jeans, and flip flops instead of his usual boots.

Only Jack actually had his sweatshirt and usual laces-wrapped pants. He was still barefoot.

"What are you wearing?!" Tooth cried when he met them. He'd insisted that he'd walk there instead of carpool with them in Aster's van. "Aren't you boiling?"

Jack glanced down at his sweatshirt. "No. I wear this year round. It's pretty worn down and isn't that warm."

The others didn't look so convinced and kept insisting that he take it off. He refused every time.

"Just leave it be," Aster sighed. "Just drink a bunch of water and try not to overexert yourself. We don't want you getting heat stroke."

Soon they were all building sandcastles or digging holes for no real reason. Jack was wandering around, climbing up the dunes and making lines around in the sand.

"Don't go too far!" Tooth called when she noticed Jack starting to get out of view.

"You're not my mom," he groaned and continued wandering.

More time passed and the day grew longer. Tooth was just getting out the picnic basket when Aster looked up suddenly, squinting into the distance. His eyes widened when he saw the sand whipping up into the air, clouding everywhere around them. "Dust storm! Everyone: in the van!"

The students jumped up and raced for the vehicle. They got inside and slammed the doors shut as the dust crept closer. The Australian frantically got out handkerchiefs and passed them around. "Put this on around your mouth and nose so you can breathe easier, in case the dust comes in. We won't be able to drive out of this because we can't see. Okay, Tooth . . . North . . . Sandy . . . Ja—" He stopped and looked around. "Where's Jack?!"

The other seniors looked around as well. Tooth gasped. "He must still be out there; he must've not heard you because he was far away!"

Aster cursed loudly and yanked his bandana up over his mouth and nose. "I'm gonna go find him."

"But Aster—" North started.

"No. All of you stay here. No matter how long I take, _don't _come out until all the dust is cleared, got it?" They nodded uneasily. He rummaged through his dashboard until he emerged with a pair of swimming goggles.

"Goggles?"

"I kept 'em here in case somethin' like this happened." He placed them over his eyes. "Now I'll see properly. Remember: stay here."

As quickly as he could, he got out of the van and slammed the door shut so the dust wouldn't get in. He then proceeded to look around. The wind howled in his ears and the sand stung as it was flung against his skin. Still, he pushed against the wind and looked around. He tried calling out his underclassman's name, but his voice got lost in the roar and howls that was already deafening.

Finally Aster started to go uphill over a dune that he thought was in the direction Jack had been wandering.

"Jack!" he screamed again, looking around. A flash of white appeared between the dust and the Australian hurried in the direction of it. Slowly, the boy came into view. He was huddled on the ground, face buried protectively into his body to block out the sand and dust. "Jack!"

Aster put a hand on the boy's shoulder. Jack's face rose but he kept his eyes squeezed shut. "Wh-Who . . . ?" His voice was quiet against the wind.

"It's Aster, Jack!" The Australian got down to Jack's level.

"A-Aster . . .?" The freshman suddenly started up in a nasty coughing fit, his body wracking and shaking. Instantly, the senior pulled him close and covered Jack's head up in his jacket so the boy could breathe easier. He felt relieved when the boy stopped coughing and his breathing was smooth and not forceful.

Aster knew that he wouldn't be able to find the van again in the storm, and that Jack could probably barely move without being exposed to more dust. He decided to wait it out.

It took almost half an hour, but the wind eventually died down and the dust settled. The other three seniors soon found them together, huddled and interlocked in a strong hug to ensure the other that they both were still okay.

"Let's go home," Aster croaked, whose throat had grown dry and hoarse with the exposure to the sandy air. Jack nodded in agreement and gave a raspy cough.

They drank a lot of water on the way back and they dropped Jack off at the orphanage. He gave them a weak smile. "See you all at graduation."

* * *

**Thank you for reading and please review! The next chapter will be the final chapter: their graduation! Please stay tuned for the finale of this fan fiction.**


	15. Chapter 15

**I want to thank everyone who has stuck with this fan fiction. When I first started this, I honestly thought that minimal people would read it, since there are so many other high school AU RotG stories out there, but this one ended up being far more popular than my other RotG story, They're Coming. Thank you so much, everyone! Also, I will be writing another RotG fan fiction after this, and the poll is still up in my profile. I will be taking it down very soon, so get in your last minute votes or PM me for an idea you'd like me to use. Thank you everyone!**

* * *

Jack stared up at the ceiling of his room. He was one of the few orphans that didn't have to share a room, since he was one of the oldest in the orphanage. That didn't mean that a bunch of the smaller kids didn't constantly run into the room and demand that he played with them. However, that day, he had made a little sign and put in on the door, saying _Please Do Not Disturb. Not even Izzie._

He knew the younger kids couldn't read, but he hoped that the older ones would advise them to not go in. It wasn't that Jack was doing anything to hurt himself—that part of his life was behind him—but he still felt depressed. He couldn't wrap his mind around why. Pitch hadn't done anything to him since winter break, the others haven't been getting bullied or anything either.

The others.

That's why he felt so sad. His friends were going to be graduating, and he was going to be all alone again next year. It was to be expected. It was going to happen eventually. That's why Jack had tried to not make friends. That way he'd never feel lonely if they graduated before him, or abandoned him. He wouldn't feel any pain. But things hadn't worked out that way.

Jack stood up and started pacing. Something else had been bugging him. He'd been thinking about it ever since Pitch had tried to bully Aster. Pitch had said the horrible things he'd say to anyone: you're pathetic, weak freshman, acted tough but you're pathetic, pathetic, pathetic . . . But there were other things that were said that Jack didn't quite understand.

"_Your words won't hurt me anymore."_

All right, so Aster must have been bullied when he was in freshman year, back when Pitch was a sophomore. That would make sense. Pitch seemed like the kind of guy that could bully throughout all of his high school experience and never get caught.

"_You had a complicated past. I should know. I got you to tell me."_

Aster had seemed absolutely frightened, if not pained. He must've remembered something; either his past or what he told Pitch. Either way, Jack himself was curious. But he knew as well as anyone that people don't always want to talk about what happened to them in their past. He knew that he shouldn't push Aster.

"_You would cry out louder than I've ever heard anyone cry out."_

Aster was strong. Had he really changed so much since freshman to senior? Had he been that weak when he was freshman that he couldn't handle any of Pitch's punishments?

"_I know why you wear _this, _Aster. You know that I do."_

Jack had never really paid attention to the fact that Aster wore a bandana around his neck every day, even when it was boiling hot outside. Could it have some kind of significance? Was it representing someone, like Jack's self-harm bracelet, or did it hide something, like how Jack's jacket hid the scars that ran up his arms and down his chest and back?

The freshman shook his head, telling him to forget about the self-harm he'd done to himself when he was younger. He wasn't ready to show off all the stuff he'd done to himself, which was why he always wore the jacket.

Aster, focus on Aster.

Once again, the boy thought about whether or not he should confront the Australian on what he had overheard. It had been bugging him for a couple months, now, and this was probably one of the last chances he'd get to talk to him in person before graduation.

His mind made up, Jack strolled out of his room and to Lorelei's office. He knocked and she called to let him in. when the freshman entered, she looked surprised.

"Oh, Jack, what can I do for you?" she asked, putting down her pen. She had been going through records and other documents that were scattered all over her desk.

"Can I borrow the phone?"

"Whatever for?"

"I need to meet up with a friend so I have to ask where we're gonna meet up."

"Be my guest."

Jack gave a kind smile and went over to her desk. He located the phone and dialed Aster's number—he'd memorized his, North's, and Tooth's number, along with Sandy's email—then proceeded to wait. He answered on the second ring.

"Who is this?" Aster's voice was gruff and defensive.

"It's Jack," the boy answered, leaning against Lorelei's desk.

"Oh, Jack! Hey. What's up?"

"I was wondering if we could meet somewhere. I wanted to talk to you about some things."

"Uh, sure. Where did you want to meet?"

"I don't know . . . Can we meet by the lake?"

There was a short pause. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Meet you there in half an hour?"

"Can you make it twenty minutes?"

"Sure. I'm not doing anything."

"Thanks. See you soon."

As soon as they hung up, Jack said his goodbyes to Lorelei and sped out of the orphanage. His bare feet slapped against the cool dirt and his white hair flew wildly about. Never in his life had he remembered running so fast, except maybe when he was trying to escape from the suffocating atmosphere of school before he'd become friends with the seniors. He was eager to talk to Aster, but he reminded himself that Aster probably wouldn't be as willing to talk.

He made it to the lake within ten minutes. Grass was growing around the lake and the water was calm. It made him sad to see the water not frozen over with the sheet of ice. He almost never came to the lake in warmer seasons because he'd always had a fear that someone—possibly even him—would discover his sister's corpse at the bottom of the lake. Nobody ever retrieved it. Her grave was memorial.

Trying to push thoughts of Sophia out of his mind, he went over and retrieved his staff from the tree. It felt natural to have it with him when he was around the lake.

"What's this about, Jack?" The boy turned to find Aster standing a couple feet away from him. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really . . . I just . . ." Jack didn't want to sound uncaring when he asked Aster about it. "Something has been bugging me for a while."

"What's that?"

"Back when I first got my voice back . . . Beforehand I had overheard the conversation you and Pitch had . . ." Aster's face paled. "And, um, I just . . . I don't understand what all of it meant."

"You don't need to."

"Aster, I know that you wouldn't want to talk about it, but I'm a little worried."

"It doesn't concern you. I'm not bothered by it anymore."

The freshman stared at his upperclassman with hard eyes. "Remember how I was the same way? But you and the others were still very worried about me and my past?"

Aster bit his lip and looked away, crossing his arms. "I don't want to talk about it . . ."

"I know you don't. I didn't want to talk about it, either. But I felt a little better that you all knew what had happened to me because I felt as though I didn't need to hide anything anymore."

The Australian sighed and looked back at Jack. They held each other's gaze and finally he nodded in defeat. "What do you want to know?"

"Has Pitch bullied you before?"

"Yes. When I was a freshman, before I met the others, he constantly picked on me. It was after that that I learned to be tougher and not trust others as easily. That was my problem. I had trusted Pitch; I had thought that he was harmless and even nice. But then he had turned on me and started making my life horrible. He'd beat me up, and I hadn't tried to fight back. I was weak. So I changed."

"He said . . . that you had a complicated past."

"My parents divorced when I was seven. When I was twelve they started dating again and it had seemed like they were going to get back together. But then my father started abusing both me and my mom, so eventually my mom got me out of there. I haven't seen my father since I was fourteen."

Jack was really proud of Aster, for being so calm when he told the boy about all of this. It showed that Aster really had become stronger. With everything he'd been through, he was probably as fragile as an egg by the time he got to high school. No wonder Pitch had targeted him.

"One final question." Aster nodded. "Why do you wear the bandana?"

The Australian's hand instinctively curled around the fabric that was tied loosely around his neck. The fabric was old and worn. He'd worn the same bandana every day for all of high school. It was practically falling apart by now.

"It's a reminder," Aster murmured. "Just before I went into high school, right after my mom had left my father and we'd both moved away, I was extremely depressed. Everyday felt painful. My mom would break down some days, just crying on the ground. Other days she'd be silent and just drink a whole bottle of wine at a time. She was an emotional wreck. I was extremely worried about her and that's all I'd do every day: worry.

"Eventually I felt as if I couldn't' take it. I hated worrying; I hated feeling so sad, I hated feeling all the pain. I just wanted it all to stop. I knew that my mom kept a gun in her dresser for safety reasons. You know, like if a burglar came in or something? Well one day, while she had gone out to the grocery store, I went into her room. I found the gun wrapped up in this." He tugged a little on the cloth around his neck. "I was ready to do it. I had the safety off and was just about to pull the trigger. That's when I stared at the bandana.

"The color was really dark, and really red. It's all faded now, but the color had been very rich and deep. It reminded me that soon my own blood was going to come out of me, looking just like that. I was going to stain my mom's gun, bandana, bedroom . . . That's when I started thinking about how my mom was going to feel when she came home and found me like that. I felt horrible all of a sudden, even thinking about doing something like that. I quickly put the gun back into the drawer but kept the bandana with me. If it wasn't for this scrap of cloth, I would be dead. This thing made me think about what I was about to do. This saved my life.

"So I wear it every day, just as a reminder. A reminder to be strong. I forgot it some days during freshman, especially toward the beginning of the year. Those were the days that Pitch especially hurt me. The days I was especially weak. But the more I wore it, the stronger I became, and the more I could get through the day. I don't think I need it anymore, but I feel incomplete without it."

Jack stayed silent though his story. It shocked him. Aster had nearly tried to take his own life. Is that why he had seemed so especially worried when he found out about Jack's bullying and suicide attempts? Because he knew how it felt?

"Is that all?" Aster mumbled, looking at the ground.

Before Jack could stop himself, he wrapped his arms around Aster. The Australian flinched, obviously surprised by Jack's sudden comfort. The freshman squeezed his friend tightly.

"I'm sorry," Jack whispered. What else could he say? He knew as well as Aster that people like them didn't want anyone's pity. But he felt as though Aster could use a little comfort and show some weakness, even just a little. It didn't matter that Aster was so tall, and that Jack's head didn't even come up to the senior's chin. He wanted to give the senior a hug.

Aster slowly returned the hug. "Thanks mate."

Mate.

Yeah. They were mates.

* * *

**Okay, I lied. The next chapter is the graduation chapter. I felt as though I wanted to clear up Aster's past since I had put in a lot of clips of mystery here and there with the conversation with Pitch. I hope you all enjoyed it and the next one is graduation, I promise! Please review and vote in the poll!**


	16. Chapter 16

**This is the last chapter! Thank you so, so much to everyone who has reviewed, and followed, and made this a favorite, and just stuck with this! I'm so happy about how this fan fiction turned out and you all just made it so much better by encouraging me to write. I will be starting the next RotG fan fiction very soon, so please put any last minute votes into the polls! Thank you. Please give your final review for this story!**

* * *

"I can't believe we're graduating!" Tooth garbled through her tears as she adjusted the blue graduation cap on her head. She smoothed out her robe and tried to stop crying.

"There, there," North soothed, rubbing her back. His own robe was tight against his body and his cap looked like it was half a size too small. "We're going to be going off to college, right? Growing up? It's for the better."

"I'm going to miss everyone! Our teachers, our friends, and Jack especially!"

"It's not like we're leaving 'im," Aster added as he slipped his robe on over his clothes. "We're not abandonin' the boy. We're gonna stay with 'im every day afta school, right?"

The cheerleader sniffed. "Right."

Sandy came up to them, looking a little disappointed and annoyed. It was apparent that he wanted to be wearing something gold to graduation but the only thing that was golden was the braid that hung from the hat.

"You look adorable, Sandy!" Tooth cooed as she looked at him. "Blue suits you."

He immediately shook his head in disapproval. They laughed.

"Time to go, everyone!" a teacher called. The other seniors rushed around, doing last minute preparations to look good, but the main four were ready. They headed out the door.

Meanwhile, Jack was sitting in the front row of the gymnasium, eagerly waiting to see his friends graduate. Normally other students weren't allowed to come and see graduation unless the student was a family member of one of the seniors, but after much begging and pleading and reasoning with the principal, Jack had been allowed to come.

He had come with a surprise for his friends, too.

The night before he had scrubbed and washed and soaked and dried his hair until the dye had washed out. Now his hair was its natural, luscious brown. He thought that they should see the real him on the last day of their high school experience. It would certainly make for a shock on their part. He had also taken out his contacts, which had made his eyes the bright blue they always were. Now they were its natural brown.

He knew that they would certainly be shocked to see his 'natural' appearance. He knew he'd look strange to the seniors who knew him just from passing in the halls. Though he doubted that any of them recognized him at all. Even if his four friends didn't recognize him by his face, they'd know him by his blue sweatshirt, which he still wore.

The band started playing in the back and in came the seniors. All shapes and sizes and heights and races and a small range of ages. He recognized a couple of the students as people from his Theatre class, or just people who he passed in the hall. None of them paid any attention to him.

Except for the four.

When his four friends laid eyes on them, their jaws had dropped, eyes had widened, and had just looked, well, _shocked. _As was to be expected when you see someone one way all year and one day they're completely different with no warning whatsoever. Jack could tell that Tooth wanted to run right out of the line and squeal and squawk over how he looked, but she forced herself to stay tall and take her seat.

The introduction and speeches from the principal and vice principal and School Board were longwinded, tedious, and very boring. But when they were all done, a senior stepped up to give a speech. Jack didn't recognize the girl, and basically tuned out her speech which had complicated wording and seemingly boring topics. A few of the seniors started to cry, though.

When the girl had finally sat down, the principal finally proceeded to name off the seniors to get the diploma. His four friends didn't get theirs consecutively, but each time Jack cheered loudly.

"Aster Bunnymund."

Cheer.

"Toothiana Middleton."

Cheer.

"Christopher St. North."

Cheer.

"Andy Sanderson."

Cheer.

Finally all of the seniors had their diplomas in hand and at the very end, the band played a final note. Every senior took off their graduation caps and threw them into the air until it was raining hats inside the gymnasium. The cheers and applause was deafening, yet Jack didn't mind. He was too happy for his friends. His grin was wide and splayed out onto his face. For once, he wasn't embarrassed to show his real emotion.

When everything was over, people still stayed in the gymnasium to mingle and get caught up with everyone. A few seniors left immediately with their parents or friends, but a majority stayed. Including the four new graduates and Jack.

"Ohmigod your hair!" Tooth shrieked as she ran over and gave him a tight squeeze. "And your eyes! Did you put contacts in, or were the blue eyes the fake ones?"

"I'm au natural right now," he admitted, grinning and adding a joking accent onto his words.

"You're so adorable!" She hugged him again, shaking with excitement.

"Let 'im breathe, Tooth," Aster laughed, giving her a gentle tug. She released him and jumped into the air.

"Sorry! I'm just so excited and relieved that high school is finally over!" Tears pricked into her eyes. "But it's really depressing, too . . ."

"You all are going to do great in college," Jack encouraged, giving them another winning smile.

North gave a hearty laugh. "I wish you would've smiled more often!"

"It suits you a lot better than a frown," Tooth agreed with a grin.

The double doors leading into the gymnasium suddenly slammed open, creating a loud crash. All of the talking stopped immediately as people looked over to see what could have created such a noise. Jack's face drained when he saw the stooped, angered figure standing in the doorway.

Pitch.

"Where is he?" Fury poured into Pitch's words as his eyes darted about. "Where is the dirty rotten boy that got me expelled?!"

Jack's eyes widened and he glanced at his friends to see that they were avoiding looking at either Jack or Pitch. Not good.

"What did you do?" he hissed to them, panic filling his body.

"We might've told Mr. Moon about everything that he's done to you," Tooth murmured.

"And to me," Aster added quietly.

Fear clenched Jack's body. "He's going to blame me!"

"YOU!" Pitch stormed over to Jack swiftly. Even faster than the four friends could react. The pitcher's hands gripped the boy's sweatshirt. With a swift turn, he smashed Jack's body against the wall, raising the boy up against the cold bricks. "This is your fault!"

"Jack!" Tooth gasped. North tried to pry Pitch away from the boy but the bully elbowed him in the stomach. Everyone else at the ceremony was staring in shock and horror.

"You bratty little _orphan!_" Pitch hissed, his hand creeping around the young boy's neck. "I've been expelled because of you! You squealing pig!"

"W-Wasn't me . . .!" Jack choked out, trying to keep the fear out of his eyes.

"Then who was it?!"

The boy gulped. He wasn't about to rat out his friends. He would never do that.

Finally a couple teachers rushed forward and forced Pitch away from Jack. The boy sunk back down to the floor and leaned against the wall for support, his heart thumping wildly in his chest.

"You dirty rotten orphan!" Pitch shrieked as he was being dragged out. "You squealing son of a—" He was finally out of the building.

Jack tried to get control over his breathing. The fear was still very apparent in his eyes. The four friends rushed to him.

"Are you okay?" Tooth whispered, gently putting her hand on his shoulder. He gave a tiny nod.

"I-I'm going to go get some air," he wheezed as he slowly headed for the door.

"We should change and meet up somewhere," Aster suggested.

"Lake."

North blinked, surprised. "Are you sure, Jack?"

"Yeah . . . the lake."

The new graduates nodded and left to go changed. Jack left the gymnasium. No one else had said a word and had instead watched the scene unfold. Jack really hoped no one else went to the lake as well.

The real reason Jack wanted them to meet at the lake was because he needed to see the lake one last time. If they were going to have to meet up somewhere, it might as well be at the place he was going to anyway. His legs sprinted there, not even slowing until the water came into view.

All the ice had long since melted away, leaving the surface of the water crystal clear and the grass starting to grow once more. Just as always, the boy retrieved his staff and planted himself a little ways off from the shore, staring out onto the magnificent view.

Jack stared out onto the water, staff clutched tightly in his hand and his knees brought up to his chin. The lake was calm and not even a single breeze was blowing. The grass felt damp against his toes and he started to feel hot in his sweatshirt.

He suddenly felt his emotions careen into another direction.

_I'm alone again, _he thought, closing his eyes. _Next year is going to be horrible. I'm alone again. Abandoned, just as I should be. I don't deserve kindness after what I did to Sophia . . ._

"Jack."

The boy's eyes snapped open and he saw his sister standing at the shore. No, no, that's impossible! She drowned. She couldn't possibly . . .

But she looked so real. Her dress looked tattered and torn. Her hair was tangled and dripping and her fingers were tinged blue. Even her lips looked a slight bluish hue. But her brown eyes were bright and warm, just like always. Jack knew that she was a hallucination. She looked the same age as the day she died.

"Sophia," he whispered.

"Hi, Jack." She smiled that bright smile that he'd longed to see once more.

"What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to you. What are you doing here, all alone? I see you here a lot."

"Just . . . thinking."

"No, you're feeling sorry for yourself. Jack, you've been worrying me."

"Soph, I'm sorry, but . . ."

She crept closer and he stared with wide eyes as she knelt right in front of him. He wanted to reach out and touch her, but his body wouldn't listen to him. He couldn't move.

Her eyes were caring and sad as she looked him over. "You've been hurting yourself so much . . ."

A spark of anger flashed through him and he shot to his feet. "What does it matter? All of my family is gone! Nobody would honestly care about me anymore!"

"But the harm you've caused yourself . . ."

"It's not bad."

Another pained expression crossed her face. "Jack, take off your sweatshirt . . ."

The freshman's confidence faltered and he looked at the ground. "No."

"Jack, for me?"

He knew what she was trying to do, and he didn't want to listen to her. He wanted to ignore her. She was just a figment of his imagination, right? But . . . she was his sister. He couldn't deny her a request. So he did as she asked and removed the sweatshirt. He wasn't wearing another shirt underneath, so all of it was revealed.

All the harm he'd done to himself.

The boy tried to not notice all of the pain and regret and sorrow that filled his sister's face as she looked at his body. Scars curled like snakes up and around his arms. Several bruises were still prominent on his chest, because of severe beatings that still hadn't healed. Parts of his skin were red and burned from all the other things he'd done that he had tried to forget about.

"Jack . . ." Her voice was pained and he tried to block it out.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted, furiously throwing his shirt back on. "But some days I just felt . . . felt like _dirt_! I couldn't stand it sometimes! I felt like I needed to take my anger out of something, even if that something was myself!"

"Don't do it anymore . . ."

"Why not? Mom wanted me dead, Dad wanted me out, and you're dead! I have no one! Our parents moved away and abandoned me, Soph! I'm all alone!"

"No, you're not!"

"What the heck does that mean?!"

"It means that you have your friends!"

Jack froze and stared at his sister with wide eyes. His friends.

"You used to be a quiet person around everyone who was even close to your age, or older," the young girl continued softly. "But since you've become friends with those four, you've become more confident. You're becoming your old self again. You just have to keep working, Jack. You can't give up. Not ever." She walked up to him and took his hand. His breath caught in his throat at the coldness of her skin. "Will you continue trying, for me?"

Their eyes met. Her deep brown mixing with his own. He bit his lip hard, trying to fight back all the emotions welling up in the back of his throat.

"You've changed your appearance to be eternal winter," she whispered. "And you can do that if you want to. But don't do that just because you want to immortalize me. I know I'll be there forever—in your heart. I don't want to sound cliché, but I know you'll never forget about me. You don't have to prove that to anyone by dressing like that."

Tears welled into Jack's eyes and he blinked them back as he stared at his little sister.

Sophia finally added, "I love you, okay, Brother?" A tiny smile appeared on her lips and suddenly Jack couldn't take it.

He started to cry.

The tears washed over his eyelashes and down his cheeks. The sobs started up and suddenly he was bent over, crying loudly and hysterically, his whole body shaking. His eyes wrapped around her, ignoring the freezing temperature about her.

"I miss you!" he sobbed, running his fingers through her hair. "I love you so much, Sophia!"

"I love you too . . ." Her voice almost sounded distant, like talking through a tunnel. "But promise me . . . Please . . .?"

"I promise . . . I'll work hard . . . I won't give up . . . I swear!"

She smiled and closed her eyes. Her body started to warm and faded in and out until—

She was gone.

Jack fell forward onto his knees, tears still falling down his face. His wails filled the air. She was gone. Gone for good, it seemed. Was that why she had stayed so long? Just so that he could promise that he'd try harder?

But try harder at what?

At staying alive? At not hurting himself? At school? Life? Making friends?

Everything.

He had promised everything.

That's why she had stayed so long.

To make him promise her about . . .

Everything.

His sobs slowly softened. He finally realized something. His sister was at peace. He could be sure of it. And he was, too. He didn't need his parents to come back for him. He didn't need any foster parents or adoptive parents either. Because he already had his family.

He had his guardians.

"Jack?"

The boy looked up and over his shoulder to find the four graduates staring at him.

"Are you all right?!" Tooth cried, rushing toward him. "You've been crying! What's wrong?!"

The other three boys quickly crowded around him.

Jack stared at all of them, all their concerned faces, and smiled. "I-I'm okay . . . Just . . . Sad that I'll be alone next year."

"We're going to hang out every day," Tooth encouraged. "We'll drop you off before school, pick you up after, hang out on the weekends; you won't be alone!"race

Jack smiled. "Thanks, guys . . ."

"I never got to tell you that I love your hair!" The squealing girl ruffled his chocolate locks.

"I prefer it white," Aster admitted.

"Same, same!" North agreed.

Sandy just shrugged. Everyone then proceeded to argue about his appearance. Tooth shouted about the natural look while the others fought about the fantastical effect of the white. Sandy tried to get them to stop arguing but their voices just rose higher and higher. Their arguing was suddenly interrupted by Jack's joyful laughter as he tried to calm himself by covering his mouth. They gave him astonished looks.

Jack laughed again, dropping his hand. "I love you guys."

()()()

Mr. Parker poked his head into the principal's office. His hair was thinning and the part of his skull that was bare seemed to be shined. A pair of glasses hung on the edge of his nose, threatening to fall off. Overall, he was a pretty meek-looking man, but his voice could control any class. "You called for me, Mr. Moon?"

"Yes, yes, come in, Mr. Parker." Mr. Moon answered, waving his hand. The principal was a stout man who could seemingly stand taller than anyone, despite his height. He had a clean shaven face with white hair that covered his head. His bright blue eyes were wise-looking and the suit he wore made him look very important.

The teacher walked in. "Did you need to discuss something with me?"

"I actually wanted to congratulate you."

"On what, sir?"

"It's about your project you do every year with the seniors; the one where they help the freshmen?"

"Oh, my _Transforming Loners _project. It's something simple, sir. It's just getting the freshman involved with the school."

"And it works wonders every year. But this particular year I wanted to especially thank you."

"Why?"

"Because of this project, a young freshman, Jack Frost, has stopped inflicted self-harm. Four of your senior students also stopped his suicide attempt."

Mr. Parker looked surprised, if not shocked, at the new information being laid before him. He had no idea that his senior students had done such things. "How . . . How did you find out such information?"

"Jack's current guardian, the owner of an orphanage named Lorelei, told me. The five students also put a stop to bullying by Weston Blackwood. He was officially expelled today before graduation."

"Weston . . . You mean that boy who had created such a horrible display at the graduation? Was that boy with the brown hair the freshman boy you mentioned?"

"The very one."

"Wow . . ." Mr. Parker knew that his project often helped his senior students learn social skills with their lower classmates, most of who couldn't talk to freshmen without worrying about saying something rude to them. He also knew that it helped the freshmen become comfortable with the school and the upperclassmen, something else that was often rare to have happen. But never did he ever think that it would save a student's life and put a stop to bullying.

"Wow indeed. I want to encourage you to proceed with this project and even ask the students to share a speech about how the project had helped them, when you introduce it with next year's students."

"Of course, Mr. Moon."

"You may go."

As Mr. Parker left, Mr. Moon looked back at his desk. He had been going through Jack Frost's file. There wasn't much about him besides a couple newspaper clippings. '_Young Girl Drowns At Town Lake' _and '_Brother of Drowned Girl Sent to Orphanage by Parents' _were the most obvious ones. Yes, Mr. Moon had known Jack Frost's history well. He had pitied the boy and knew that there were a few seniors that could help him.

The principal was very happy indeed that the correct four seniors had helped the boy.

"The _Transforming Loners _project," Mr. Moon whispered to himself with a ghost of his smile on his lips as he sat into his chair. He closed the file and pushed it back towards the end of his desk. "It has, truly, transformed a loner into something great."

Guardians are out there.

_Everywhere._

* * *

**Thanks again for reading. Please review and let me know how you felt about reading this story, how you feel now, and just please review!**


	17. The Sequel

I now have the sequel to this story called Please, Be My Hero. It can be located in the following link. Thank you for reading!

s/9294527/1/Please-Be-My-Hero


End file.
